100% cotton shrinking...pre cuts...
11-21-2012, 06:59 PM
#21
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Waco, Texas
Posts: 15,138
11-21-2012, 08:02 PM
#22
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Southern California
Posts: 6,259
If you want to prewash (and I prewash!) then understand washing precuts will make them not square and smaller than what they started out as. Quilters pay a premium to have precuts done to a size they can use immediately and not fuss with or many times avoid cutting. If you're going to wash them, why pay a premium for this and you should just buy the yardage...
11-21-2012, 09:16 PM
#24
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,365
(at the rate I'm going, will prob try to just finish 2 for the out-of-towners and show the other two with a post-Christmas promise-my standard MO!)
11-21-2012, 09:22 PM
#25
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Southwest Kansas
Posts: 4,820
I don't prewash. I started off prewashing because I was told you had to or all sorts of disasters would happen. Then a friend that owned a quilt shop pointed out to me they never washed any fabrics for any of the store samples. Besides if the dryer is what shrinks the fabric, my iron is waaaaay hotter than the dryer.
As to bleeding, if it's not set in the original fabric and you didn't do anything to it to set it in something that picks the excess dye up in the wash, it's still not set and will wash out eventually.
Simplest solution, don't wash any of it.
As to bleeding, if it's not set in the original fabric and you didn't do anything to it to set it in something that picks the excess dye up in the wash, it's still not set and will wash out eventually.
Simplest solution, don't wash any of it.
11-21-2012, 09:46 PM
#26
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: MN
Posts: 25,193
I was wondering if washing to minimize further shrinkage was worth the effort - so i measured hundreds of pieces before and after washing -
A very few did not shrink at all.
Most shrank at least an inch either in width and/or length.
Some shrank over two inches in width and/or length.
As far as brands - I noticed shrinkage in almost all the lines that I have purchased (Michael Miller, Kaufman, Hoffman, Alexander Henry, Oakhurst, Blank, VIP/Cranston, Peter Pan, Moda, RJR, Hi-Fashion, Shamash, SSI, Northcott) - I know I missed a few brands/lines. The list was just to indicate that I had used a few brands that aren't usually found at WalMart.
I also had a red bleeder that was a Moda.
My Mom gave me a pack of 5 inch charm squares - purchased from either Keepsake Quilting or Quilts & Other Comforts. I washed them in the washing machine in barely warm water and dried them in the dryer.
I remember two pieces in particular - one shrank over 1/2 inch (the five-inch square was now only 4.5 inches wide) and one became a parallelogram when the fibers relaxed.
The pieces can be washed before using - but they probably will shrink and/or distort and require reshaping.
I think the bottom line is to do (or not do) what your comfort level will tolerate.
A very few did not shrink at all.
Most shrank at least an inch either in width and/or length.
Some shrank over two inches in width and/or length.
As far as brands - I noticed shrinkage in almost all the lines that I have purchased (Michael Miller, Kaufman, Hoffman, Alexander Henry, Oakhurst, Blank, VIP/Cranston, Peter Pan, Moda, RJR, Hi-Fashion, Shamash, SSI, Northcott) - I know I missed a few brands/lines. The list was just to indicate that I had used a few brands that aren't usually found at WalMart.
I also had a red bleeder that was a Moda.
My Mom gave me a pack of 5 inch charm squares - purchased from either Keepsake Quilting or Quilts & Other Comforts. I washed them in the washing machine in barely warm water and dried them in the dryer.
I remember two pieces in particular - one shrank over 1/2 inch (the five-inch square was now only 4.5 inches wide) and one became a parallelogram when the fibers relaxed.
The pieces can be washed before using - but they probably will shrink and/or distort and require reshaping.
I think the bottom line is to do (or not do) what your comfort level will tolerate.
Last edited by bearisgray; 11-21-2012 at 09:48 PM.
11-23-2012, 06:21 AM
#27
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 108
I seldom buy precuts but when I do I prewash & I prewash all yard goods - to control bleeding, not shrinkage. Before I prewash yard goods I use a pair of pinking shears (how many remember/own those) on the cut edges to control raveling- if I do have precuts I was them in a lingerie bag.
11-23-2012, 10:20 AM
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 6,430
My quilting teachers explained that the smaller pieces should not be washed (because of raveling) until they are in a quilt. Because they are so small, the shrinkage should be minimal. I would never wash a jelly roll, etc. until they are quilted.
11-23-2012, 11:51 AM
#30
Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Southern WV
Posts: 36
I always pre-wash because that was stressed when I decided I wanted to learn how to quilt. My sister-in-law spent about a year making a quilt by copying family pictures onto fabric. Finally finished it early this year. Unfortunately, she had used some bright red fabric to set off all the pictures and as a border. She didn't pre-wash, and, yes, it turned the whole quilt a nice shade of pink. She washed it several times, but it seems the quilt is permanently pink.
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