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LEARNING CENTER
CONTENTS
What Makes These Electric Scissors Different?
The Whys and Hows of Prewashing Fabric
Basic Tools and Notions for a New Quilter
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BBB Online
THE WHYS AND HOWS OF PREWASHING FABRIC
by Judy Martin
A
reader wrote and asked, "Would you consider giving the basics of prewashing 100-percent
cotton fabric? I know it is a very basic step in quiltmaking, and I should know the
details of the procedure, but I don't! I'd just like to hear the how-to from an expert!"
The first question is, "Should you or shouldn't you?" My answer to that is a resounding "Should!" There are some who disagree, most notably my good friend Harriet Hargrave. She has her reasons, and they're sensible reasons. But here's my take on the matter: Knowing how some fabrics run, I think it would be a disaster to have them run when I wash my finished quilt. What if you have navy stars running and ruining the bone-colored background? That's right, Disaster with a capital D.
Here's what I do: I usually pile up new fabrics for months in the laundry room until I can't take it anymore and I have to devote a whole day to washing them. By letting the pile of fabric build, I usually have a number of items of the same color to wash together. I test each fabric separately in the sink, using warm water. If the water runs clear, I put it aside while I test the rest of the fabrics of that color. I then machine wash the fabrics of one color family together. I use warm water and the delicate cycle. I don't use detergent or fabric softener. I dry the fabric on the regular cycle. I remove it promptly, to prevent wrinkling. I don't take the fabric out while it's damp, because I'm trying to make it shrink all it's going to now.
If the color runs in the testing phase, I soak the fabric in cold water with a dash of salt and a couple of glugs of vinegar. (The reason I use this mixture is because I tried one or the other of these products years ago, with good results, but I could never remember which it was. As for the "dash" and "glugs," if I can't recall which product I used, do you think I remember the exact measurements? Who knows? Maybe it's simply the cold water soak that does the trick.) After soaking, I test again. If it still runs, I run it through the washing machine separately, then check again.
To avoid tangling threads, you can clip a small triangle from each corner of the fabric before washing. This works great, but I can't bear to waste that little bit of fabric, so I don't usually do this. Instead, I trim off the threads after washing and again after drying.
To me, the fact that a fabric may change color or depth of color after being washed is not a bad thing. It's a neutral thing. I don't match colors so carefully that it would matter. It may not be quite the color that I bought, but I know what color it is before I cut into it. The important thing for me is to know that each fabric in my quilt is going to keep its color to itself and not corrupt its neighbors by running.
Is all this solid home ec or just so much blather? I don't really know, but it's what I do. You can decide for yourself whether my approach makes any sense for you.
P.S. Yes, I have heard about products that set color the first time you wash the fabric. However, I also read the warnings on the label and couldn't bring myself to let those chemicals come in contact with my washing machine and possibly my laundry! I am so sensitive that I break out in a rash and have difficulty breathing if I wear clothes washed with scented detergent.
Judy Martin is the author of numerous books about quilting, including The Creative Pattern Book, available at SewAndQuilt.com. You can visit her website at www.judymartin.com.