I always wash 100% cotton before cutting, if it's for making garments. I don't worry as much about fading as I do shrinking. Dark blues and blacks are the fabrics I have trouble with fading. If you don't prewash first, you will have a big chance of the fabric shrinking when you've washed the garment the first time after it has been made. Plus, fabric is treated with chemicals so you need to wash it first to get that stuff out.

I've always wondered, though, about drapery fabric. I do not wash that. Do others wash drapery fabric first?? You most likely buy several yards of drapery fabric. Won't you have to iron it after its been washed and dried?? To me, that's alot of fabric to have to iron wrinkles out of.

I have always pre-washed fabric. Shrinkage and shifting are the main reasons. I usually buy a little extra to allow for shrinkage, about 1/4 yard. If you don't know what the content is, it can be heartbreaking to make a garment, then have it twist, shrink, or crinkle after the first wash. I like to know what the fabric is going to do before I use it. I try to buy machine washable fabrics for most things, especially for garments for the GK's.

I always wash before cutting out, and sometimes even before deciding what I want to make. Some fabric nice and crisp in the store sometimes comes out really floaty and soft. Also it gives you a good idea what it will do in the wash. You do not want to pick out a pattern that you do not want to iron, and then make it in something that has to be ironed, and ironed and ironed to get it right. Also even these days and with something expensive, I have found material that has bled all over itself. I would not want to put in a lot of work on something you have to immediately throw out.

I think you have to take into consideration what it is your making and how it will be treated afterward. I know that once I make something for a Grandchild, it is going to be washed and dried over and over. Same for garments for myself, as I never use the dry cleaners...everything goes into the washer, and is folded or hung right out of the dryer...I hate ironing.
Even dressy stuff...I made Christmas dresses for my GD's two years ago out of washable velveteen instead of velvet, with contrast fabric that was metalic threaded cotton, also washable.
I agree with Birdtalker about the uses of fabric after it's washed. I've changed my mind many times about using a fabric after I've seen the drape/hand after washing, and thought "this would work better for that".
I don't find that the preparation takes the joy out of sewing, but gives me more pride in the finished product. Although, many times, for just my own things, I will take shortcuts, ie, skip finishing seam allowances, leave out interfacing, use velcro or a tie instead of buttons, BUT, I always pre-wash. That's just me. I had too many shrinking, twisting things happen when I was starting out. My hat is off to those that have never had that happen!

hmmmmmmmm???? Well, I sure appreciate all of the advice. I like my clothes to be larger---especially tops---nice and roomy-----so I wouldn't worry about it shrinking so much. I buy and try to make a size bigger than I am---sometimes two! :) I would hate for the material to "twist" that noinwi talked about. I have never had that happen. Anyways, Thanks again and I will take all of these opinions into consideration.

aunt lou

I agree about ironing, noinwi. I hate it, too, and rarely iron any garment. And, of course, I take shortcuts. But I seriously have never had a problem with shrinking, and I make lots of clothes for myself, husband, adult sons and dtrs, and 6 little grandkids.

You wrote: "I've changed my mind many times about using a fabric after I've seen the drape/hand after washing, and thought "this would work better for that." Oh, so have I, even though I don't wash first!! I often buy fabric because I like it but have nothing in mind for it at the time. You should see my stash, especially now that I've inherited my mom's!

I wish you the best of luck, Aunt Lou.

Sherry

"If you ever plan to wash the garment, you should pre-wash the fabric first." That is what I have always heard and have always followed and I also pre-wash my quilting fabric too.

Teresa

That's a good point, Teresa. It will eventually have to be washed anyway. Maybe I will do one piece without pre-washing and see how I like it and the rest following the standard practice.

I thank everyone for their opinions and have enjoyed the various responses.

Aunt Lou

It is best to pre-wash. If the material is going to change during one washing, such as wrinkle, shrink or fade, then I may change my mind about using it for a garment. Too much time is spent on sewing to make clothes out of poor fabric.

When I was much younger, I did not. Now that I am older and wiser, I do. Not only for shrinkage, but it shows how well the fabric (hopefully) washes and a good time to clean up and take care of raveling.

Another pre-wash person here, also press it before cutting and if a cotton like gingham I spray starch. Red is another color that can give you a problem, ask me how I know. Also pre-shrink zippers and interfacing.

I have some fabric for curtains for my living room that I am thinking of Not pre washing. I hopefully won't need to wash them for a long time. But after reading this I think I will figure out where I can take a square or rectangle of a certain size, hem the edges, wash it and not only see if the color changes but measure it after. I'm thinking a foot square if I can get away with it, tho 6x12 might be fine. The fabric has big red flowers and if the color runs for example, I may still make the curtains, but Never wash them, lol.
kathy

Concretenprimroses, I have been sewing for over 40 years. I am getting ready to make kitchen valances. I will not wash the fabric because I love the hand. When they get dusty, I will put them in the dryer on low for a few minutes and hang them back up. By the time they start to look bad, I will be ready to make new ones.

Speaking of kitchen curtains/valances....I am without kitchen curtains of any kind at the moment....I put up some lace panels when I first moved in this house over ten years ago. When I took them down to wash a few months ago, the interfacing that I used to make the insert for the rod just disintegrated and pulled off the lace. I won't make the mistake of using interfacing again. At least they lasted for those ten years. (sigh)

I always prewash and dry, due to painful experience. But to do it in a way that minimizes post-washing problems and avoids having to finish the raw edges first, I neatly flat fold my fabric and place it in a mesh bag that zips shut before putting it into the washer and the dryer. This makes starching (if desired) and ironing much easier.

Its not necessary but cotton fabric get stretched or tighten after wash hence to get accurate fitting it is better to wash it first.

Here is a link that might be useful: junior plus size clothes

This post was edited by SadieBell on Sat, Nov 9, 13 at 0:39

I always wash and dry all of my cotton and suede fabric first thing before storing them. Also I never add softener to these when I dry them. I do a lot of applique sewing with iron on interfacing and found out that they don't fuse together if any of the sizing is still in the fabrics. When I go to my stash I know that they are pre-washed and ready to sew.

I always wash all of my fabrics first. I find it takes out the guess work in accounting for shrinking or tightening and it helps me have a better final product.

I wash and press nearly all my fabric...there might be an exception like drapes or curtains but for anything else, yes....wash first.

Have you ever walked into a large fabric store and noticed that new fabric smell? Guess what that smell really is? Formaldehyde resin! That is a very good reason to pre-wash your fabrics. I worked for several years in one of the largest fabric stores on the west coast and have also worked for a mill-end buyer from the NYC garment dist. My mother was a tailor and taught tailoring, I've spent my entire life handling fabrics and have had the rashes to prove it.

For years the textile industry has been using finishes on fabric that prevents wrinkling – usually a formaldehyde resin. Fabrics are treated with urea-formaldehyde resins to give them all sorts of easy care properties such as:

• Permanent press / durable press
• Anti-cling, anti-static, anti-wrinkle, and anti-shrink (especially shrink proof wool)
• Waterproofing and stain resistance (especially for suede and chamois)
• Perspiration proof
• Moth proof
• Mildew resistant
• Color-fast

I never used to pre wash fabric, until I was working on a quilt. I hadn't noticed the smell, but I wound up in the ER with the worst asthma attack I've ever had.

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.

I serge the ends of fabric and prewash, if I plan to wash what I am making, Linen will shrink 10%, and so you have to adjust the yardage you need by 10% to allow for that. Cotton will shrink almost as much as linen, and so I allow 10% for that as well. I prewash in cold water and then use a hot dryer, as that is where the shrinkage mostly takes place. Also, the fabric may shift somewhat, and you may notice that the perpendicular ends of the cut fabric are no longer perpendicular afterwards. This is another main reason for preshrinking - you do not want garments shifting to one side after they are made.

Before 1985 or so, if you bought linen clothes, the labels would say to dry clean only, but dry cleaning is hard on linen, whereas washing is not. Also, washed linen is much softer, and for me, it is very easy to iron, but then I enjoy ironing.

you also have to wash things occasionally if they are cotton and linen because they need to be 'rehydrated' to keep them wearable. Let cottons and linens go too long without washing and they will crumble. That is why vintage fabrics are sometimes not usable. Polyester does have a similar problem but don't really understand it, just takes longer.

If I was going to make something complicated and that I wanted to wear for some time, I would wash or preshrink first. It would be a waste of my time to put a lot of effort into something that shrank or faded the first time it was cleaned.