After Washing

I have a question for all of those who wash their fabric before adding it to the stash. After you wash it do you iron it? Starch it? Fold it as it comes out of the dryer? What is your process of storing your fabric once it comes out of the dryer?

I'm thinking I might have to wash all my fabric after we move and I'm not sure what I want to do with it after washing it. That leads me to ask what everyone here prefers. I know it's a matter of personal preference but I like to get other opinions when I'm straddling the fence on something like this. I have always been one to just refold the fabric and add it to the stash without washing so I don't have a particular procedure or way of doing things. Well, I do have a specific way that my fabric has to be folded but we'll not go there for now. So let me know what you all do with your fabric after you wash and dry it. Thanks everyone.

Reply to
Mika
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I wash and dry mine without using any fabric softeners- if I want to use a fusible then I don't have to think about whether it's been softened or not. I fold it all about the same way and size so the stacks are neat, sort by color and/or type (batiks, hand-dyed, novelties and Christmas and then sorted by color family) and then add it to the stash- no starching or ironing. Starch can attract bugs and if I bothered with ironing at that point I'd most likely have to iron it again by the time I got around to using it..... which could be years since I buy fabric on a whim and use it to 'feed my stash' and insulate the walls of my 'studio'. This has worked for me for 20+ years and I'm not going to change now! ;-)

But then we all have our own way of doing things and variety *is* the spice of life!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Reply to
Leslie& The Furbabies in MO.

why?

Val

Reply to
Val

Reply to
Joanna

I always wash and dry fabric before using it, and never use any sort of fabric softener. I also never iron the fabric before storage, but fold it. Any piece of fabric more than one yard in length gets a note tucked into the center fold saying what the yardage is.

Reply to
Mary

i wash, line dry in the sun, fold and store. i might iron before cutting but not usually. the fabric gets pressed when the blocks are made.

DO NOT put STARCH on anything that will be stored. it is organic and attracts insects...silverfish etc. its not worth the trouble. if you 'need' to starch do it just before sewing and wash it after the quilt is made. tho keep in mind how long the top might take to make and will you store it for years before quilting it....those UFOs with starch will again attract those little critters. ewwwwwwww. j.

"Mika" wrote... I have a question for all of those who wash their fabric before adding it to the stash. After you wash it do you iron it? Starch it? Fold it as it comes out of the dryer? What is your process of storing your fabric once it comes out of the dryer?

I'm thinking I might have to wash all my fabric after we move and I'm not sure what I want to do with it after washing it. That leads me to ask what everyone here prefers. I know it's a matter of personal preference but I like to get other opinions when I'm straddling the fence on something like this. I have always been one to just refold the fabric and add it to the stash without washing so I don't have a particular procedure or way of doing things. Well, I do have a specific way that my fabric has to be folded but we'll not go there for now. So let me know what you all do with your fabric after you wash and dry it. Thanks everyone.

Reply to
jeanne-nzlstar*

I take it out of the drier while still slightly damp. Then I iron it, hang it on the airer until quite cold, before folding it for storage. It looks and feels perfect - smooth and slightly stiff as if it had just come off the bolt - but it is clean, and shrinkage and colour-bleeding has happened (I hope). Couldn't be better. . In message , Mika writes

Reply to
Patti

Reply to
Roberta

After washing, I iron it, then fold, then add to stash...that way it's ready to go and I don't have to worry if I've washed it or not.

-Irene

Reply to
IMS

I just fold it as I take it out of the dryer. If I take it out and fold it right away, it usually doesn't get too wrinkled. Some things get wrinkled from being folded and stored anyhow, so you can iron before cutting if necessary.

Julia > I have a question for all of those who wash their fabric before adding it to

Reply to
Julia in MN

That's pretty much how I sort mine too Leslie, well sort of. So far I have mine sorted by hand-dyed, baby fabrics, solids, all the rest, then by color. That's all the shelf space I had for sorting. I'll have more room to sort further when we get moved though. I had totally forgotten about starch attracting bugs. Thanks for reminding me of that.

Hugs, Mika

Reply to
Mika

Just to have it nice and fresh again. After sitting on the shelf it has collected dust just like everything else in the house collects dust.

Hugs, Mika

Reply to
Mika

I am so excited for you that you are getting close to your move! I wash my fabrics and run them through the dryer. I figure that is what will probably happen to them once they are in a quilt or garment. I NEVER starch anything that won't be washed or used soon. We have interloping silverfish here and they love to eat starch. I would suspect other bugs like to dine on starch too. If the fabric comes out of the dryer really wrinkled I do iron it but usually I just fold it until I am ready to use it and then iron and starch if necessary. Happy Packing! Taria

Reply to
Taria

I wash, dry, fold, put on shelves.

I work from stash a lot, and fabrics get auditioned many times before they're used. If I ironed them right away, they'd simply get wrinkled again before I used them.

I don't use starch on any of my fabrics. I haven't found the benefits to outweigh the hassle and nasty feeling on my hands.

Reply to
Kathy Applebaum

I wash, no softener, dry in dryer, and only iron if the fabric is too wrinkled to fold neatly. For longer yardage, I fan fold in half yard folds. Then I fold the whole thing to about 6 inches wide, fold the fold to the selvedge edge. All my fabric is folded this way. When stacked on shelves, I see the fold, and by checking how many layers, I can tell how big a piece is available. Anything 3yds or more, I store on the cardboard bolts and store under the end of my sewing table.

Reply to
Susan Torrens

I never use softener on unworked fabrics. Nothing ever gets starched prior to storage. I don't usually iron cotton before storage. Generally it is just folded as it comes out. However yardage is usually examined prior to folding, and if the grain has gone a bit wonky it will get rewashed and hung with weight to pull it back as it should be.

NightMist

Reply to
NightMist

MIka: Yes, I wash every piece of fabric. I carefully fold and store the fabric as it comes out of the dryer. IT would be a waste of time to press it before storing, as I'd need to press again to use it. Starch? Rarely use it, and certainly do not store starched fabric. I too have a specific way of folding fabric .... glad to know I'm not the only one! LOL PAT

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

After purchase, I re-fold each peice, whether a FQ or yardage to fit my shelving. When i decide upon which fabrics i'm going to work with on a project, i then wash, dry and steam iron each peice. if i buy a peice of fabric that has a stiffness to it from the store, i will wash and dry that too, so that the factory starch doesnt attract the bugs. Ladybugs like starch too. we have loads of them...my vaccuum loves them!!

amy in CNY

Reply to
amy in CNY

Take it out of the dryer, smooth it, fold it , stick it in the closet on a shelf with like colors. Gen

Reply to
Gen

I tried not ironing my fabric after I wash it, but it gets too bulky because of wrinkles and so on -- no amount of smoothing takes care of that for me. So I do iron, but I don't obsess about getting it perfect, since I know I'm going to have to do it again after its been in the stash for a time and gets crushed. LOL!

Reply to
Sandy

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