"Do not prewash"??

13 years ago

Assembling fabrics for the baby quilt I'm optimistically planning, I bought a couple of pre-cut fat quarters. One label instructs to machine wash cold, tumble dry low--the usual. The other says this:

Do not prewash. Machine wash finished product in cold water, tumble dry low.

The bolding is theirs.

I assumed I should pre-wash everything, and that's what I've been doing. I wouldn't want to have one fabric handled so differently from the others. I can't imagine what harm it would do to pre-wash this one, but they really emphasize not to do that. What would you do?

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Comments (11)

wanda_va
13 years ago
I always prewash. I wonder if that's because of fraying?? I think I would sew a line of stitching very close to the edge of the fat quarter to keep it from fraying--and then prewash. I agree with you that I wouldn't want one fabric handled differently from the others.

I also use a dye catcher in the washer when I prewash, to avoid any bleeding.
linda_in_iowa
13 years ago
I would not prewash it. Maybe is ravels easily.
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I do prewash (and recommend) prewashing cotton fabric in hotter water than I would use to wash a quilt. I do wash like colors together. I throw in a color catcher. I want whatever is going to happen to happen before it gets sewn into a quilt. I also dry on med hot. It is 100% cotton - it should be able to withstand hot water. I use regular detergent. The recipient is going to use regular detergent. I do not use dryer sheets or fabric softener - don't use them on my clothing - I am washing the fabric to remove the sizing and whatever is on it, No need to add it back in. On long pieces, I baste the short ends (WOF) to avoid the twisting mess. If it is 2 yards or longer, I will randomly baste the long edges (selvages) a few stitches every foot. I also prewash Fat Quarters and short pieces in a bowl in the sink - hot water. Blot excess on a white towel. Again, I want the dye or fading to occur before it is used. I am diligent about prewashing. Always have been since I was a young girl sewing - before dryers. I am not a fan of Woolite. Many do not prewash. Yes, I wash my finished quilts. I wash them on warm, gentle, use Dreft, dry on medium - remove from dryer when slightly damp - block if necessary - laying on the floor on a sheet to finish drying.
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I test all reds and anything dark and inky that is saturated with color front and back in cold water in a white kitchen sink. If it does not bleed then I know it's ok to wash in cold water with detergent in the washing machine, but just as a good rule of thumb I put 8 inch x 4 inch piece of white on white fabric in the wash with all new fabrics, just as a 2nd way to double check it. I find that with reds and navy fabrics that if you flip the fabric to the wrong side (back side) and look at it if it has a lot of white showing then it probably will not bleed, but if it is inky and saturated with color to the extent that a blue fabric pen mark would not show up on it, then it's probably gonna' bleed. I also look at the white selvage edge of new fabrics to see if the red has bled on to it during the manufacturing process. If the white or cream selvage edge of the fabric when you look at it in the store if it's got red dye already bled on to it then that suckers probably gonna bleed big time when you put it in cold water. If fabrics bleed during my kitchen sink cold water test then I soak them in a plastic tub with 3 cups white vinegar and 8 cups cold water and let it sit for 24 hours and that should bleed out the excess color in the fabric. Afterwards the next day I pour the white vinegar and water saturated with dye down the kitchen sink and wring out that fabric in the kitchen sink, then I wash it in cold water and detergent and that large piece of white on white fabric. If that white on white fabric is pink when the washer stops then I rewash it until my W.O.W. fabric is white again. If after 2 full wash cycles in the washing machine if fabric is still bleeding then I get rid of it and don't use it in my quilts, and then I wash the W.O.W fabric in cold water and Clorox color safe bleach to get my white on white fabric white again for future uses. Hope that is helpful. Best to you, Sandra
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Waaaaay up there, back in 2009, somebody said what a pain it was to prewash due to "finishing cut edges". That implies to me that this person was talking about cutting the fabric out and THEN "pre-washing". If that was the case, that's not pre-washing after all. You need to get the shrinking over and done with BEFORE you start cutting your pattern out. Yes, I alway pre-wash - the entire piece, before I try to work with it at all. If that person was actually referring to the cut ends of the fabric, all I can say is, I routinely wash the fabric, I NEVER do anything to the ends of a piece of fabric before washing it, and I've never had more than just a little bit of raveling. Shrinking is the norm for me with cotton fabrics. As for ironing - for many many years I could pretty much take it for granted that most fabrics were permanent press and prewashing didn't add any ironing that you weren't going to have to do anyway. However lately I have noticed that where 90% of the cotton or cotton blends I bought were permanent press in the past, these days the vast majority of what I take home is clearly NOT permanent press. I have seen this in sheets as well - where I could have taken it for granted that sheets are permanent press a couple decades ago, these days nearly all of my sheets are wrinkledy messes when they come out of the dryer. And no, this hasn't increased my ironing load - I would rather sleep with wrinkledy sheets than muck about ironing the freakin' sheets. For sewing, I've always run a quick iron across any piece I am working with before I lay out the pattern and start cutting. Even straight off the bolt, there are creases and wrinkles that can mess up your cut pieces. It only takes a couple of minutes, and even the wrinkledy messes only take 3 or 4 minutes to get straightened out. It is always always worth it to prewash, because as annoying as ironing can be, its even more annoying to discover that a finished piece has shrunk after only a handful of washings.
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There's nothing in the user's manual nor the service manual that indicates a prewash on Whitest Whites - only a preset Extra Rinse. However, what you describe does sound like a prewash. Strange... You could add more powdered detergent, say, five minutes into the prewash, which would get dispensed during the wash fill. Or add more from the start, as you are doing now.
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alisande
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks! I never thought of the raveling. I'll sew the edge like Wanda suggests.

What's a dye catcher? I've been washing these pieces by hand to avoid bleeding onto each other. So far no dye has showed up in the water.
mary_c_gw
13 years ago
Speaking as another experienced quilter - I never pre-wash. Washing anything less than a full yard is just too much trouble. So is stitching all the edges.

I just wash the finished quilt using the Shout color-catchers. They work really well.

The laundry brand "Shout" makes color catchers. It's a sheet you throw into the washer, and it collects and absorbs loose dyes. The box looks like a dryer sheet box, and they are on the laundry aisle.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
13 years ago
Agreed I sew to complete then wash and I always use shout color catchers, I don't wash with out one, they work amazingly well.
FlamingO in AR
13 years ago
I prewash everything except pre-cuts like charm packs, but I also very rarely use those. My skin reacts badly to the stuff in new fabric, that's one reason I do it, but bleeding and shrinking is the other reason.

For fat quarters, I hand wash them in the sink and dry in the dryer. Yardage I'll do on gentle in the washer, but I don't let it agitate long.

Even after prewashing, some colors can continue to bleed, which can be tragic if you're making a white quilt with a bit of red in it! Color catchers do help a lot.
alisande
Original Author
13 years ago
I machine washed the one that said "machine wash....etc." and it frayed like crazy. Go figure. No harm done, though; it's not as though I need every square centimeter of it.

I think I'll just hand wash the other.

I thought I'd have to make a trip to Jo-Ann's for most of my supplies, but I found everything I need at Walmart. My vision of the sea turtle and background is quite different from the way I first saw it. I just hope my newfound color confidence wasn't misplaced. :-)
chisue
13 years ago
Hmm...a new quilt...with a sea turtle...do you have some news for us, Susan?
alisande
Original Author
13 years ago
Oh, my....how lax of me! I do in fact have news of the best kind: Little Joey is expecting a baby brother or sister in November!!

We'll be extra thankful this Thanksgiving.
bee0hio
13 years ago
Also an experienced quilter here...
Sometimes I pre wash, sometimes I don't.
If the fabric is flannel, & especially going into a baby quilt, I pre wash because the shrinkage factor can be significant.
Most of what I buy is cotton, but I've never seen a label on a fat quarter with any sort of washing instructions.
chisue
13 years ago
Wonderful! Joey will get to be a Big Brother -- admired, adored...dethroned.

So gender will be a *surprise*? Love that. Our DGS is now 8.5 and DGD is 2.5. She merely worships him. LOL

"Do not prewash"??

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