Share Your Tips

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

Carey — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 02:11:03 GMT

It depends I used to prewah all my fabric if it for applique in particular wall hanging I usually dont bother washing anymore. If it is for a lap or bed quilt I sometimes do.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

Sherry — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:55:13 GMT

and I like ironing, which I do before I use the neatly folded fabric for a quilt.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

Sherry — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:53:16 GMT

I know what you mean. I got tired of the tangles, threads, etc. Decided not to EVER pre-wash again. I don't mind the "wrinkled" look after washing a quilt, in fact, I like it.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

Connie Ehrhard — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:10:50 GMT

Gini, If they are tree frogs we are having the same issues in Spokane. I also heard on the news the other day that they are PROTECTED! How can that be, we are seeing more this year than ever before. My Shi Tzu tries to catch them.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

gini — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:32:34 GMT

our friends that brought their 4-y-o grandson this summer, say he still talks about frog hunting at my house. we caught frogs all day in the ponds and he caught frogs at night on my deck.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

gini — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:29:59 GMT

i put them in the dryer until they are almost dry. fold smooth, fold smooth, i don't do a lot of ironing.

when i forget to take them out soon enough, yeah i get to iron our the wrinkles an pull off the tangles, they just don't bother me that much. i have more important things to worry about than fabric tangles. like what after school snack the kids won't turn their noses up at, where's the quilt i seem to have lost, when am i going to lunch with mom, why i'm being infiltrated by tree frogs,

these days i mostly worry about how in the world all the frogs are getting in my house. the screen door is closed, they seem to be congregating around the sink maybe the window has an opening. they hop into my house, get on the carpet, turn very pale trying to turn ecru, and die. i am removing, dried dead, nearly dead or still hopping critters every morning.

don't worry nancy, they don't get all the way back to your bedroom. they can't hop that far, i guess.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

Alexis B. — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:13:19 GMT

I tried to pre-wash when I got started a few months back, but the strings of fury! THE HORRIBLE KNOTS! THE TERROR OF TANGLES! This idea sounds hopeful for the frightful fraying, but the wretched wrinkles still scare me. Like most of us, I buy all the fabric I can if it's a deal, meaning bolts of it. The wrinkles are so bad that I can't ever get them out. Also, doesn't everyone iron and starch fabric they don't wash? My non-crafting mother can't understand how I can enjoy a task that takes as much ironing as quilting. I feel like I'm married to my iron even though I don't pre-wash. Sounds like the washers do it with a smile because they enjoy ironing, but I iron just as much (just not as hard since they aren't as creased.)

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

Connie Ehrhard — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 18:25:16 GMT

I saw this idea on you tube and couldn't remember exactly how it was done.

Thanks for posting this. I hate the tangled mess.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

Cathy J — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 10:04:51 GMT

I wash fabrics for my quilts or placemats, really anything I know will be washed alot. But for wall hangings or pillows I don't wash.

My allergies are from the dust in the fabrics and not chemicals. The chemicals do dry my hands though.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

gini — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:46:56 GMT

ngw, welcome to the group

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

ngw333 — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:24:55 GMT

I wash most of my fabric. I put pieces smaller than a yard in lingerie bags to wash. I love to put a good movie on the TV, set the ironing board at the lowest level, pull up my chair and iron to a good movie. After, I wash and iron, I put a small safety pin at one end of the fabric. In the future, I know that piece has been washed.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

Sandra — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 12:33:21 GMT

I agree with you about washing fabric....

This is why the manufacturer uses pesticides and chemicals in production. On it's journey to your door, the fabric encounters many countries, warehouses and then your fabric shop or another warehouse if you purchase online. The chemicals will always be there no matter where it first originated, because even the US exports textiles across the globe.

The reason to prewash is not only to rid yourself of all the harmful chemicals, but the most irritating of all has to be that you can ruin a quilt in the first moments of a wash cycle. If you can't come to terms with prewashing every bit of fabric you own, then at a minimum you should wash are color groups of reds, blues, browns and greens.

My rule of thumb is to prewash yardage in warm water on a gentle cycle or rinse cycle, gently handwash precuts in warm water and hang to partially dry, then iron dry and gently fold or wrap yardage onto bolts. Until you've spent countless hours, days, even months finishing a bed quilt, then washing it for the first time and finding out that the red has bled into the white and turned a vivid pink color, you really won't know the true value of prewashing all your fabrics. Take it from one who had to learn the hard way.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

MNnancy — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 02:36:01 GMT

QDancer:
and I like to iron the fabric, smells good.....did I say that out loud?.....

LOL

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

gini — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 00:56:45 GMT

QDancer:
and I like to iron the fabric, smells good.....did I say that out loud?.....

i didn't hear anything.

Re: To wash or not to wash the Great debate

QDancer — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 00:34:25 GMT

I also pre wash my fabrics. I have had colors bleed ever so slightly, but even just "ever so slightly" is heartbreaking after all that work....and yes, can't trust that there aren't pesticides or crawlys or Lord knows what all else. My peace of mind makes it not such a big deal, and I like to iron the fabric, smells good.....did I say that out loud?.....

Mona