Ok, I'm going to venture away from my squares and pillows and placements using cotton to making some window treatments for the living room. The pattern is from McCall's and is a simple panel on each end with swags across the entire front. The swags are going to be made from this fabulous upholstery-type fabric I found at Hancock. The woman their thought it would work fine when she saw the pattern.

Here's my question ~ do I wash the upholstery fabric before using it like I would my cotton fabric? It doesn't seem like it should go in the machine, but I just want to be sure.

I know ~ I know ~~ it's a newbie question yet for sure!

~ Elizabeth