Washing fabric one fabric at a time?
05-01-2011, 11:44 AM
#51
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: At my LQS
Posts: 2,326
I don't wash mine in the washing machine. I just wash them in the sink with very hot water; no soap. I then squeeze out the water (try not to wring them out) and put them in the dryer.
This will preshrink them, and you will see if you have a fabric that bleeds. I use Retayne if I have one that won't stop bleeding.
This will preshrink them, and you will see if you have a fabric that bleeds. I use Retayne if I have one that won't stop bleeding.
05-01-2011, 11:48 AM
#52
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Maine-ly Florida
Posts: 3,929
I also soak some of my fabrics ahead of time if I think there may be a problem. I found some really nice plastic bowls at my grocery store for about $1 after Christmas. I think they used them to make up fruit bowls for sale and then put them out cheap to move them. I have a white one and a green one. My DS has been known to tell his Dad that the upstairs bathroom looks like a science lab at times.
05-01-2011, 12:04 PM
#53
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Outside St. Louis
Posts: 38,250
Since I usually buy large cuts I wash several like color ones together, dry each piece - 4 yd.s separate for 1/2 hour each, so they won't get tangled. I then fold them using a ruler and seldom have to press them.
05-02-2011, 11:36 PM
#56
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Queensland Australia
Posts: 1,388
Originally Posted by Flying_V_Goddess
In the debate of whether or not you pre-wash your fabrics, I take the side the pre-washing because I don't want to run into any sort of surprises. I wash my fabrics one at a time on the smallest load because I worry about colors running together.
That's kind of a problem. Though I am trying to put in an effort to change this, I still live with my mother. It seems like she'll nag at me about every little thing. The other day I went and washed one of the fabrics for my Shuriken Packer quilt and she nagged at me because it was the only item in the wash.
I guess this is not a huge problem as I don't have a lot of fabrics to wash.........................yet. My big project requires about 70 or so different colors of marble/watercolor fabrics. I definitely worry about color fastness on this one as there are so many fabrics and a lot of subtle color variation that I don't want to ruin because excess dye got into other fabrics. But even if I had my own washer and dryer, doing 70 loads for each individual fabric is a bit ridiculous.
What can I do to avoid colors possibly running together without having to do so many loads of laundry?
That's kind of a problem. Though I am trying to put in an effort to change this, I still live with my mother. It seems like she'll nag at me about every little thing. The other day I went and washed one of the fabrics for my Shuriken Packer quilt and she nagged at me because it was the only item in the wash.
I guess this is not a huge problem as I don't have a lot of fabrics to wash.........................yet. My big project requires about 70 or so different colors of marble/watercolor fabrics. I definitely worry about color fastness on this one as there are so many fabrics and a lot of subtle color variation that I don't want to ruin because excess dye got into other fabrics. But even if I had my own washer and dryer, doing 70 loads for each individual fabric is a bit ridiculous.
What can I do to avoid colors possibly running together without having to do so many loads of laundry?
05-04-2011, 09:15 AM
#57
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: northern California
Posts: 1,098
I am astounded at the work so many of you do! And I thought my routine was long.
1) I run all new fabrics thru very hot water, keeping like colors together (I use plastic tubs, like those pink things you get from hospitals). If something runs (and yes, about one in 5 or 10 does) I pull it out and redo it with salt in cold water, and since I wash all my quilts when they are done I know that there is no "running" problems. Early in my quilting experience I used color grabbers (when my quilt ran terribly) and I put the quilt through the wash, with grabbers several times before the color bleeding was really low, so I don't think color grabbers are the best answer. I still keep some handy for emergencies, but not for new material ones.
2) My new front loading GE has a rinse and spin cycle (must be for quilters!) which takes 12 minutes.
3) Then the fabrics go into the hottest setting of my dryer (to make them shrink if they are going to), but I get them out before they are dryed out of their minds, fold and put away in my stash.
4) I never have any problem with fraying!!! Why would anyone put new cut fabric into an agitating washer??? Even finished quilts should not be treated this way unless you have a gentle or hand-washng setting, and even that's iffy. The thought of presewing edges just to prewash them is weird to me. It has to be more time consuming than simply pushing them up and down in very hot water with your hands for a minute and then letting them soak.
5) Am I missing something here? In rereading this it looks a bit rude, and that's not what I meant to be.
1) I run all new fabrics thru very hot water, keeping like colors together (I use plastic tubs, like those pink things you get from hospitals). If something runs (and yes, about one in 5 or 10 does) I pull it out and redo it with salt in cold water, and since I wash all my quilts when they are done I know that there is no "running" problems. Early in my quilting experience I used color grabbers (when my quilt ran terribly) and I put the quilt through the wash, with grabbers several times before the color bleeding was really low, so I don't think color grabbers are the best answer. I still keep some handy for emergencies, but not for new material ones.
2) My new front loading GE has a rinse and spin cycle (must be for quilters!) which takes 12 minutes.
3) Then the fabrics go into the hottest setting of my dryer (to make them shrink if they are going to), but I get them out before they are dryed out of their minds, fold and put away in my stash.
4) I never have any problem with fraying!!! Why would anyone put new cut fabric into an agitating washer??? Even finished quilts should not be treated this way unless you have a gentle or hand-washng setting, and even that's iffy. The thought of presewing edges just to prewash them is weird to me. It has to be more time consuming than simply pushing them up and down in very hot water with your hands for a minute and then letting them soak.
5) Am I missing something here? In rereading this it looks a bit rude, and that's not what I meant to be.
05-05-2011, 06:11 AM
#58
Power Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Location: MN
Posts: 25,193
Originally Posted by Sierra
I am astounded at the work so many of you do! And I thought my routine was long.
1) I run all new fabrics thru very hot water, keeping like colors together (I use plastic tubs, like those pink things you get from hospitals). If something runs (and yes, about one in 5 or 10 does) I pull it out and redo it with salt in cold water, and since I wash all my quilts when they are done I know that there is no "running" problems. Early in my quilting experience I used color grabbers (when my quilt ran terribly) and I put the quilt through the wash, with grabbers several times before the color bleeding was really low, so I don't think color grabbers are the best answer. I still keep some handy for emergencies, but not for new material ones.
2) My new front loading GE has a rinse and spin cycle (must be for quilters!) which takes 12 minutes.
3) Then the fabrics go into the hottest setting of my dryer (to make them shrink if they are going to), but I get them out before they are dryed out of their minds, fold and put away in my stash.
4) I never have any problem with fraying!!! Why would anyone put new cut fabric into an agitating washer??? Even finished quilts should not be treated this way unless you have a gentle or hand-washng setting, and even that's iffy. The thought of presewing edges just to prewash them is weird to me. It has to be more time consuming than simply pushing them up and down in very hot water with your hands for a minute and then letting them soak.
5) Am I missing something here? In rereading this it looks a bit rude, and that's not what I meant to be.
1) I run all new fabrics thru very hot water, keeping like colors together (I use plastic tubs, like those pink things you get from hospitals). If something runs (and yes, about one in 5 or 10 does) I pull it out and redo it with salt in cold water, and since I wash all my quilts when they are done I know that there is no "running" problems. Early in my quilting experience I used color grabbers (when my quilt ran terribly) and I put the quilt through the wash, with grabbers several times before the color bleeding was really low, so I don't think color grabbers are the best answer. I still keep some handy for emergencies, but not for new material ones.
2) My new front loading GE has a rinse and spin cycle (must be for quilters!) which takes 12 minutes.
3) Then the fabrics go into the hottest setting of my dryer (to make them shrink if they are going to), but I get them out before they are dryed out of their minds, fold and put away in my stash.
4) I never have any problem with fraying!!! Why would anyone put new cut fabric into an agitating washer??? Even finished quilts should not be treated this way unless you have a gentle or hand-washng setting, and even that's iffy. The thought of presewing edges just to prewash them is weird to me. It has to be more time consuming than simply pushing them up and down in very hot water with your hands for a minute and then letting them soak.
5) Am I missing something here? In rereading this it looks a bit rude, and that's not what I meant to be.
I think the "ideal" fabrics would:
be colorfast - have no excess dye in them to go on to other fabrics
would stay the same size as when purchased
would be printed on grain and processed to maintain perpendicular grain lines
would have minimal fraying/raveling
not have any chemicals that trigger allergies
And all this - straight off the bolt!
So far, most of my fabrics have been relatively "good" - once in a while I get a stinker - and some of the stinkers have been the highly touted LQS fabrics.
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