Should I pre-wash fabric?

Short answer: Yes if you are going to wear it and no if you aren’t.

Long(er) answer:

Fabric shrinks when you wash it.

How much it will shrink by will vary on the type of fabric you are using and the materials it is made of.

If you are planning to make a garment out of the fabric, you want to make sure that it does the shrinking before you cut it out and put time and effort into making a beautiful garment.

Nobody wants their clothes to shrink after the first wear.

If you don’t plan on washing your finished sewn item then washing isn’t needed.

Next up, quilts. People wash quilts, so should you pre-wash fabric when you plan to turn the fabric into a quilt?

It’s up to you. There’s no right or wrong answer.

Don’t pre-wash: The fabric will shrink when you first wash the quilt.

But so will the batting (unless you pre-wash that too.) However, this will give the quilt a lovely crinkly, vintage feel.

Personally, I like this.

If you are using highly pigmented fabrics, it may be a wise move to chuck a couple of colour catchers in with the quilt to catch any colour runs and wash on a cooler 30 degree cycle. I generally use good quality quilting cotton for my quilts and have never had any problems with colour running and I have washed quite a few quilts!

If you don’t want the crinkle look then pre-washing everything is your best move.

Do you pre-wash everything or are you more of a ‘wing it and see’ sewer? Any fabric washing stories you want to share?

Let me know in the comments!

Lou