Of course there’s a never-ending debate regarding whether to prewash fabric and I’ve been back and forth several times over the years. I usually resume prewashing when something fades and runs in a finished quilt, but I mostly don’t prewash. My theory is that most (not all!) modern fabrics are colorfast. Of course cotton fabric shrinks, but most people expect quilts to be crinkly due to cotton batting, so it doesn’t really matter if the fabric shrinks, too.
Here’s a quilt in which cotton batting produced even crinkles
Enter my class with Tara Faughnan, which I’ve found very useful. Tara advised prewashing because different colors of fabric shrink different amounts! She also noted that prewashing then starching makes the different weaves on the market (think Kona solids vs Cotton Couture solids) behave similarly when you get around to sewing them.
I just said ho-hum and went on my way. Then this happened:
Yikes!
Well! Those are 2″ squares, so the amount of shrinking in that middle one is kind of alarming. Furthermore, it appears that warp and weft shrink differently, which is not actually a surprise. The cause of the shrinkage in this case was just ironing with water spray.
So I got out all my solids to pre-wash. I washed in color-coordinated loads, with color catchers. There was a little bit of fading with the reds, but otherwise nothing faded. I didn’t try to evaluate shrinkage.
So I’m back in the pre-wash camp. Where are you this week?
Zippy Quilts 
Interesting. Not so long ago I stopped pre-waging. But now I have to consider pre-washing and starching. Having most of my stash pre-washed, I’m half way there.
Having been back and forth myself, I hear you!
Hmmm. The only fabric I’ve ever prewashed is linen bc I was told it has a 30% shrinkage rate. This was told to me by a quilt store owner. I would consider prewashing considering the project – large(ish) pieces of fabric and all of them get prewashed. I don’t remember if I washed anything other than the linen with that one quilt.
I agree that linen shrinks a fair amount, though I’m doubting 30%! And it probably does make sense to decide on prewashing depending on the project BUT I want to be ready to go on the spur of the moment, so it’s back to prewash-all for me.
I am in the rewash camp. My Mom always said, put your fabrics on the washer when you bring them in. Have done it ever since. Pamela Coughlin
See! Mama was right again!
Your post makes me smile. The debate never ends – never reaches consensus. I’m a person who sticks to one perspective, and has never deviated. Wash first. Wash first. Wash first. New fabric, including linens, go directly into the laundry room before entering the sewing room. The reason being, as you just discovered, fabrics bleed, and different brands behave differently. I’ve had a solid aqua (of all colors) bleed, so you never know. I also rarely use starch, and when I do, it’s near the block-finishing stage. I never know how the my washed-and-stashed fabrics will be used, so I don’t want any sizing on them until I know. For example, if I decide to use a piece of fabric for fused appliqué, I certainly don’t want the fabric to be tainted with anything. It’s always surprising to me when new quilters proudly tell me, “I never pre-wash my fabrics.” In my head I’m thinking, “Oh my dear. One day you will wish you had.”
Indeed, I don’t starch my fabric until I’m using it for the same reasons. Thanks for your thoughtful comments, as always.
I don’t pre-wash and I just live with the outcome but I’ve noticed that solids behave differently from prints. Since I don’t use a lot of solids I guess I’m ok with it all ❤😊
I do think maybe the solids shrink more than the prints, but that’s just a guess. And I still think if you use cotton batting it doesn’t much matter. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
I’m in the prewash-all camp. I remember when I decided and spent days washing fabric I owned at the time. I wash it first load after I bring it home so it is ready. (I don’t press it till I am ready to use it as even if pressed, it needs to be pressed again.) I never starch because I’ve heard starch draws bugs and I let projects age (ahem) quite a while sometimes.
Among other reasons: I make a lot of scrap quilts and I want my scraps all to be the same, prewashed. (For those who like to laugh at autocorrect: it wanted to change “prewashed” to “preached.”)
Yep, gotta love autocorrect! And scraps are a major reason to prewash yardage in my world. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Generally, when I come back from the fabric store, I go straight to the laundry room and wash my new fabrics. I think it’s a good habit. And, yes, I throw in a few color catchers because I’m always surprised which ones bleed.
That said, I used $1000 worth of gift cards a few weeks ago when JoAnn’s announced it was closing. Yes, most of that was for fabric, and I was saving those cards for when I had particular fabrics in mind for planned projects I wanted to start. I don’t know how much fabric that is, maybe 200 yards? Most of it was 40-50% off. Anyhow, that’s a lot of fabric to wash. I think I’ll wait until I start using it to wash it. Right now it’s neatly packed in bags and I have no idea where I’ll put it all.
I may never have to buy fabric again.
Yikes! That would be a lot of fabric to wash! And you probably can’t just put a piece in with each load of clothes for several reasons…good luck!
I don’t usually wash unless I look at something and think it looks iffy, but maybe I should start
As noted, I’ve been back and forth. It’s a lot of work, but of course a lot of work goes into the quilt too…
“different colors of fabric shrink different amounts! She also noted that prewashing then starching makes the different weaves on the market (think Kona solids vs Cotton Couture solids) behave similarly when you get around to sewing them” I did not know this about the color factor! I usually prewash except if I want to keep a certain ‘finish’ on the fabric (that isn’t compensated by starching later) or if I will ‘never’ wash the wall-hanging type of quilt and then that opens up use of many different types of fabrics.
Case in point: most of the Ankara fabrics have been used for never-to-be-washed projects. But I will prewash them iff (old math term, if and only if) I decide to use them in an okay-to-wash quilt.
As for prewashing thread? No way – though a friend of mine in the 70s got a quilt ruined by red thread running…the brand no longer exists.
Wow! Thread color running! Eeeeek! However, I love “iff”. I don’t remember that one, but math wasn’t my strong point!
…and yet, here you are a master quilter (one who deals in math daily to create her masterpieces) 🙂
Life is too short to wash thread. That said, I too have had red thread bleed over a painstaking embroidery. Decided it added to the design!
Mariss: Agreed! And I’m not at all surprised with your artistic decision to see the color bleed as adding to the design – that decision no doubt ‘added’ to your sense of well-being, too. 😉
Prewashing is a bind, but I always wash new fabrics, except for hand dyes because I figure they have been washed by the person who dyed them. Ironically, these are the fabrics that are most likely to bleed!
Yes, I’ve taken to washing hand dyed fabric, including batiks, with Retayne before using. It’s a bother, but less bother than trying to get rid of color that runs after the quilt is finished!
Wow–you really opened a hornet’s nest with this pre-wash post, but I must say I read through them all and enjoyed reading everyone’s thoughts (so thank you for that). I always pre-wash darks, reds. I only use one line of solids (Painter’s Palette), and in using those quilts, they are mostly for hanging so they probably won’t be washed in my lifetime.
Having said all that, I visited a son last month and he had my very first Turkey Red and cream quilt on the back of his chair. I said, “Send it to the cleaners and pray a lot.” That was Before I Knew. Glad it’s getting used, I must say.
Oh boy, turkey red and cream! Glad you caught it in time to tell him it needed to go to the cleaner. And it would be so handy if I could satisfy myself with one line of solids. But I can’t. In truth I would be happy with just Cotton Couture, but it’s not readily available, so I have a variety.
I’m in school No PreWash but that example your shared scared me, ha!
I’m not sure there’s an actual right answer or a way to win, but I’m back to pre-washing.