Oh...Pre Wash or Not - the greatest debate for quilters...not so much for sewers, since for sewing, you should ALWAYS wash so that shrinkage happens before you invest your time in sewing and fitting a garment.
For quilters, it's kind of a toss-up. Some people have to wash every piece of fabric in their stash since the finishing chemicals bother them. But most of us will probably admit we don't always wash.
You probably should not mix washed and unwashed though - that shrinkage problem can crop up and if you have unwashed and washed together, you will get an uneven surface...unless...that happens to be what you were going for in the first place.
Some colors need to be prewashed...black, dark blues and dark reds especially if the quilt has white or off white or even tan as part of the colors- there have been nasty surprises when the quilt is washed with crocking or bleeding. Always use a color catcher or two on the first wash of a quilt to help keep the loose dye from settling where it shouldn't.
Scrap quilts you probably can get away with not washing or even mixing washed and not washed since the scraps tend to be smaller.
If the fabric has an extra heavy sizing, I wash it before use.
You can get into trouble even steam pressing if the fabrics are not washed. Here is an applique project that I almost ruined steam pressing - the applique fabrics were not washed and horror of horrors, the dark pink on the blossom on the right bled into the pale blue background!! I had many a blue word to say about how stupid I was to steam this piece! Fortunately, I did not let it dry before I tried repairing. Repeated applications of water with a q-tip swab diluted the bleed until it was pretty much gone - I can still tell its there, but I doubt anyone else can. (Sweet Magnolias - Cathy Van Bruggen design) This wall hanging should never be washed!
1 comment:
I always try to wash even when I bring home scraps. The reason for me is that I do not want to worry if the quilt should ever get wet or even need some kind of spot cleaning. Better for me to get that step out of the way than have to deal with a nightmare later. I have had my share of bleeding even when things were prewashed.
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