October Monthly Blog Drawing PRIZE: $50.00 SewThankful eGift Certificate
Answer the question of the month (in red text) below by leaving a reply/comment on this blog entry and you’ll automatically be entered in our Drawing/Giveaway for a chance to win a $50 SewThankful eGift Certificate.
You’ve got nothing to lose! There’s no cost to participate, but you surely can’t win if you don’t enter.
- Limit 1 entry per person. You MAY comment as many times as you like, but only one comment per person will be counted.
- Qualifying entries for this drawing must be made on this blog entry. Stray comments made on other pages or entries of this blog will not be counted.
- Qualifying entries must include a valid email address (this is required in the comment form next to ‘mail’ but will not be published).
- Winner will be selected by random drawing.
- Spam entries will be determined, disqualified and deleted solely at our discretion.
- Qualifying entries will be accepted until 7PM Eastern Time on Friday, 11/4/11. Â Drawing will be held shortly thereafter.
- Winner will be notified by email immediately after drawing and will be announced here and in the following weekend’s eNews.
- Prize is ‘as offered’ and has no monetary or cash value for ‘return or exchange’.
- $50.00 eGift certificate must be redeemed online through the SewThankful.com shopping cart. When redeemed, eGift Certificate may be applied to products + applicable shipping charge and tax (if shipping to New Mexico) and is subject to all the rules and policies that apply to our eGift Certificates.
- This drawing is void where prohibited by law. Participation is entirely voluntary and at no charge to participant.
If you want to receive notice when we do future drawings, please make sure to sign up for our FREE SewThankful eNews.
QUESTION OF THE MONTH:Â Do you pre-wash your fabrics before sewing?
REMINDER: I moderate all responses to protect readers from the spam/porn bots. Yes, we really do receive many spam and porn posting attempts that get through our security settings every day. If you make a comment after hours (i.e., after 7PM Eastern Time M-F or over the weekend), it may take several hours for me to approve the comment. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
COMMENTS FOR THIS BLOG ENTRY CLOSED AS OF 7PM EASTERN TIME.
I always wash new fabric. I like the feel and smell of freshly washed material. I also had a problem once with new material for a blouse I was making so now I make sure to always wash. Never buy material that has to be dry cleaned.
I always prewash according to fabric, better safe than sorry.
Depends on the project… for quilts yes… for bags maybe… for other craft type probably not.. I don’t wash charms or jelly rolls..
So guess I do and I don’t!!!
Always prewash. There always seems to be a smell, probably the sizing they put in. I like working with freshly washed, softer fabric.
Yes, I always prewash my fabric, don’t have to worry about shrinkage that way! Thanks for making this such a fun site!
Most of the time I prewash, unless I am sure the colors won’t run. I have a lot of older donated fabric that I am trying to use up, and I always wash it. If the project is one that will not get washed, then I don’t bother.
I always pre “wet” all fabric when I bring it home. I will put it in a bucket of cold water (by being in a bucket I can tell if it bleeds)and then I spin it out in the washing machine. If the finished project will be dried in the dryer then that is how I dry the fabric. When my son was 1yr old I made him a knit one piece jumpsuit-didn’t prewash back then and it shrunk so much he only got to wear it once!
I prewash for large projects, small projects I do not prewash fabric.
I always prewash my fabrics (except wool) before using. I serge the cut edges before washing. This way I know if the fabric has been washed when I go to use it from my stash.
It depends on the type of fabric I am working on. I do mostly garment/apparel sewing and use a lot of fabrics that are to be dry cleaned. For those type garments I ususally use Dreyel product for dry cleaning garments in your dryer. For cottons, faux suede and particulary knits I do prewash.
It all depends on what I’m using the fabric for and if I want shrinkage. With items like clothing and bags, I absolutely will pre-wash. With quilts, I tend to like the soft and shrunken heirloom look, so I won’t wash until the quilt is done. Other times, I’ll prewash first because I don’t want that much shrinkage to take place after the quilt is made.
When I do wash, I wash all the fabrics for a project together in one load with a Shout color catcher sheet. I always starch and iron my washed cotton fabric before using it as it’s much easier to piece and sew with when it’s not limp and prone to stretching across the grain width-wise.
I try to put all fabric in the wash basket so I will not even think of Not washing it. I can remember one time I had a piece of Red fabric actually leave a stain on the bed of my sewing machine. It was very hard to remove. Never again.
I do wash my fabrics if I am making a quilt, but if I am making a project, like a wallhanging, that will not be washed I may not pre-wash the fabric.
The first thing I do when I bring home new fabric for clothing is put it on the washer so I don’t forget to pre-wash. I want to make sure all the sizing is removed and any preshrinking done before I make the garment.
Thank you!
Brenda
Well, sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t! If the project I am making is from a kit, such as a BOM, I don’t since the pieces are usually very small. If the project is made from larger pieces of fabric and I can afford the time, then I do wash everything. But if I just want to get to the sewing as soon I as I bring it into the house, I plug in the iron, press everything and go for it!!!
Not unless it is cheaper fabric which I rarely use. Quilt store quality isn’t necessary. Note you can use a small amount of lesser quality with your better fabric (sometimes you need a certain color and this can be done)and it will be fine. Beware though of lesser quality reds, I would wash those.
I buy alot of fabric , I always wash it before I use it. As soon as I get home I seperate it buy colors and also by type. I always wash all fabric because I sew for alot of people , so I wash it like I was a person that didn’t know how or what to wash it. That way when they get it they can wash it any old way and its not going to shrink, fade ,or fall apart on them. These women don’t have much so they really like having something new and nice to wear I’m not around them to redo the items. I should have said women & childen. I just feel like its safer and I don’t have to worry if it will hold together. I’ve said to much already ! But I would rather have it fall apart on me then on them. Dixie Oatsvall doatsvall@cox.net
No prewashing–I want to sew! I do wash quilts before using or giving them away, though, to get the “shrinky” look, to catch any loose dyes with a color catcher, and get rid of any chemicals that may be lurking.
I prewash batiks, reds and blues. If I prewash one fabric for a quilt, I prewash all for that quilt so all of the fabrics shrink about the same after the quilt is made, used and washed. I prefer not to prewash unless I absolutely have to but I will wash the entire quilt once it’s done especially if I’m giving it away.
I pre-wash all fabrics in Orvus as soon as I bring them home to remove possible allergens used in processing the fabric. If they are going to shrink, they will do so before I cut them.
I always prewash fabrics for quilt projects but not for wall hangings. I always encourage my high school quilting students to prewash as well-especially since many of them use lower quality fabric which is more apt to shrink.
It depends on the item being sewn. The newer, better quality fabrics don’t shrink so much, so that isn’t usually an issue. And, sometimes I want that older, slightly wrinkled look on a finished item, so will wash the finished item to shrink it just a bit. I do pre-shrink muslins. For normal cottons, I will iron the fabric with steam to shrink a bit. I do always pre-wash items I am making for children or babies.
I have in the few projects I’ve done. I just recently asked a quilt shop if I should and they said don’t bother. I hate to have a gift have a problem after I’ve given it. I think I’ll pre-wash anyway!
I usually do not wash my fabric unless it is for a swap and washed fabric is choice of swap, then I do wash. I also wash all reds and blacks, some batiks.
I usually prewash, but only just before I use the fabric in a project
I always pre-wash to make sure I get rid of any fumes and extra dyes.
For seasonal type wall hangings – ones that are only out for “short” (relatively speaking) time – no, don’t pre wash. Pretty much for the rest of items, crafts (depending on what it is), bags, quilts – yep Pre-wash is the rule.
I generally do not wash my fabric before sewing it into a quilt. I do wash my quilts with a setting solution before giving them away. Of course there’s always the exception.
Yes, I prewash my fabrics except those that are included in a kit where the yardage might be not be generous.
I always prewash fabrics. I don’t want a surprise later on when a fabric bleeds and I also don’t want to be exposed to all the chemicals added to the fabric when I am handling it in cutting and sewing.
I don’t wash my fabrics before using. For one thing, it’s takes up precious time; and I like the old fashioned quilt look if there is some shrinkage. I always wash after it’s completed and if there is some concern about colors running, I use a color catcher. I’ve never had any problems doing it this way.
Absolutely!! First I check a corner of each for bleeding. Then I soak in warm water, spin and dry. I need to get rid of the chemicals used in the processing, allow shrinkage and let the fabric to relax. Most of our fabrics are processed in countries that allow chemicals banned in the US. Often they are pulled off grain and need to straighten themselves. I use Retayne to treat any that bleed.
I generally do not prewash unless I think one fabric may shrink more than another(as in a baby blanket with minky on one side and cotton on the other).
Generally, I do not prewash my fabrics. However, if I am using dark reds and blues, I tend to rinse them first with vinegar water to prevent the colours from running.