Do women know about shrinkage?

Doc, I have heard the history of the board but it doesn't come to me just now - but you know, of course that a 2 by 4 is not 2 or 4 anywhere. Width of fabric can be just about anything. Probably more than 39", sometimes 60 or so just because. Clothing, of course, is another matter. All of us know that clothing left to its own devices just hanging around in a closet can and certainly will shrink. Just another case of 'never assume anything'. Furthermore, your yard stick, tape measure, square ruler and lipped ruler will not always measure the same. I'm thinking that using 42" (more or less) for your foundations is rather cumbersome. Might be easier to begin with something about half that size. Polly

"Dr. Zachary Smith" Of course you do. It was a bad reference from Seinfeld, but it

I'd bet your fabric wasn't 44/45" to begin with. This has been a real source of irritation for me lately, since I got hooked making baby quilts. I'd made a quilt so that regular 44/45" fabric would work for the backing, not having to piece it. Lo and behold. I had the LQS lady measure and my fabric of choice was only 42" *on the bolt*. Since then I always check.

This trend also really screws up patterns using fat quarters when they assume a fat quarter will be 22 inches, and it's not!

I don't know the reason for this trend. I imagine it's the same reason that cans of vegetables, candy bars, etc.etc. have shrunk. Instead of raising the price on that stuff, they shrink it and think we don't notice???

Sherry

My challenge lately has been plain old Rice Krispies. They seem to change the size of the box at least twice a day. Our cabinet shelves are adjustable so when they made them taller, I adjusted. The next week, I just moved cereal storing over to the pantry. Last Tuesday, WalMart had a display of Rice Krispie boxes that were about the size of our washing machine. DH muttered "back porch for that one?" and I just wondered who could possibly manage that sort of 'saving'. Now, if someone could please tell me how to get the @#$! plastic wrapping open without going out to the tool shed for some serious help. Polly

I'd bet your fabric wasn't 44/45" to begin with. This has been a real source of irritation for me lately, since I got hooked making baby quilts. I'd made a quilt so that regular 44/45" fabric would work for the backing, not having to piece it. Lo and behold. I had the LQS lady measure and my fabric of choice was only 42" *on the bolt*. Since then I always check.

This trend also really screws up patterns using fat quarters when they assume a fat quarter will be 22 inches, and it's not!

I don't know the reason for this trend. I imagine it's the same reason that cans of vegetables, candy bars, etc.etc. have shrunk. Instead of raising the price on that stuff, they shrink it and think we don't notice???

Sherry

Correct, a 2 x 4 is 1-1/2 x 3-1/2 wherever you go (in the USA), and tolerances are within 1/16". There are standards. I see fabric in bolts labeled 41/42, 44/45, and I think (but not sure) a few others in the neighborhood. No standards. I did specifically ask the clerk how wide the fabric was. She said she thought 41/42, but when we looked and saw 44/45, she said it should measure out in that range, and I believed her. (In the law, that's called "superior knowledge" but I'm not trying to make a federal case out of it.) All I really want to know is if 3" shrinkage is typical/expected of quilting cotton fabrics in that nominal range so I'll know how to estimate things in the future (This used to be the construction manager's purview...)

Yeah, I'm getting a lot of that. I would have preferred 45". I should probably publish (here) my project specs. For constructing the quilt, I'm tentatively using a modified "antique method" (combining some aspects of other methods) as outlined in Michler's "Crazy Quilting - The Complete Guide". It was recommended by someone here; I don't recall exactly who... She (Michler) describes 10 different ways to patch a CQ, and this one (at *least*) says, "A foundation can be the size of the entire quilt top, or a block of any size." As always, if what I'm trying doesn't work out, I always have a backup plan. OTOH, if it DOES work the way I envision, it should be just what I want, and I shall endeavor to be insufferably smug about it. 8^P [JUST KIDDING!!!]

Doc

That's my suspicion despite the explicit labeling, and IMO, that's just not right.

That one I knew about. I'm learning (often the hard way) but it's far more frustrating than other industies I'm familiar with. I don't think I'm alone in suspecting some form of sexism/chauvinism at work here. IMO&E men wouldn't tolerate this kind of shenanigans (though we've fallen for some doozies...)

"Downsizing". I couldn't agree more. Hate it, Hate it, HATE IT!!! Like you, I would rather pay more and get what I used to get.

Doc

Wish I could find my cornflakes w/ dried blueberries in that size; I can only get about 3-1/2 bowls out of a box. :-(

FWIW, we keep a couple of boxcutters in the kitchen drawer and a couple of exacto knives in the pencil jar (a BEA-UTIFUL antique French's mustard [they originated here] jar I dug out of a jobsite trench 30+ years ago...)

Doc

I have struggled with the cereal issue as well. I have very limited space in my kitchen and two small kids. So I went to the dollar store and bought 8 matching containers. So now cereal all goes in those. They will fit the small box of cereal completely. The larger boxes I fill the container and put the rest in the pantry and fill as necessary. 8 Boxes of cereal on the go sounds like a lot but with 4 of us in the house everyone has their different likes, and plus it actually saved us space compared to trying to keep say 2 large boxes and 3 small boxes in there.

I also got some square rubbermaid containers that will hold all the package stuff. Like Lipton sidekicks, gravy mixes, noodle soup. And another container for the smaller boxed stuff like Kraft Dinner and such. It's way easier to find things and nothing is getting knock over on the floor when I'm trying to get something out of the back of the shelf. I just pull the container and slide it back in.

This all started cuz I had mice. Now we got rid of the mice but I would never go back to my old ways. Just food for thought...haha Joanna

Polly Esther wrote:

Instead of food for the mice? 8^D

Doc, they lie. Everything with a size on it that isn't set by some sort of legal apparatus (think the gas pump) lies. Assume everything is smaller than it says. Unless you want it to be small, in which case it will be big and floppy.

But about your foundation -- I worked with 18" squares for my foundations on my niece's CQ. By the time I finished they were about

Sunny can't wait to see your quilt

Yeah, on most fabrics, our rule of thumb is 40" of useable fabric, which makes a lot of kits & other estimates way off, but it seems to be the real world. I was willing (and still am) to take what I can get. It's the labeled width that disappointed me (along with the clerk's optimism - it's not like I wasn't going to buy it or anything...)

I accounted for that. Assuming 45" max., and 3 "squares"... (45 x 3) =3D 135 / 36 =3D 3.75 yds., so I bought 4 yds. I'm good. Since it came out to 42" after washing, we made the length 43, and hemmed both ends for a finished size of 42" square. Whatever it comes out to when it's covered, it is.

Doc

Thanks, I'm getting that impression. Now that I know, I know. ;-)

Uh-oh... Here we go again...

You, me, and half of the rest of the free-quilting world... ;-)

Doc

My cats bring live mice home. Why is it always the pregnant ones that escape and go to ground in the dry goods cupboard? Both beasties usually eat what they catch, be it mouse, bird (including pigeons!), and bunnies.

Most of my eatables go in a variety of plastic containers. But I think the cats bring the mice home to fatten up for later.

On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:18:58 -0500, Dr. Zachary Smith wrote (in article ):

I don't know if it would be expected, but a) some fabrics are notorious for shrinking a lot (flannel comes to mind) and b) the bolt end might have lied. Any more, I assume when figuring yardage that quilting cotton is 42" wide, not 45" no matter what the bold says.

Shrink is a very varied thing. It can depend on a lot of different things. When figuring out how much fabric I will need I just assume 10% shrink and then add 5-10 percent to the total amount I figure I need. Yes, quilt cottons will shrink more than most other cottons. A 60 threads per inch fabric will shrink more than a 120 threads per inch fabric, and most cottons prefered for quilting fall into the 60 thread range. Higher thread counts shrink less than the same thread in lower counts.

If your fabric was 44 inches wide, you only lost about 2 inches to shrink. Not bad, but I would go back and engage in some serious laundry abuse to make sure you got it all. I have gotten up to four plus inches of shrink across the width on cottons I prewash for batiking. Those I all but boil in the prewash, because hey, I will boil them in process.

NightMist

Dr. Zachary Smith wrote:

First off, if you washed 100% cotton in COLD water, it shouldn't have shrunk. Hot water wash, even a warm water wash could result in shrinkage but not cold water. IMHO 3" shrinkage on 45" wide fabric would be a bit much for good quality cotton washed in hot water. I read Nightmists post -- she expects 10% shrinkage) and have never had the sort of shrinkage she expects to get. Not sure why that is but as she says, shrinkage is a varied result thing. I pre-shrink all my fabrics (good quality quilting cotton and the el cheapo stuff from Wally World) and the only time I have had that sort of shrinkage was with stuff that was so obviously cheap (poor quality dye, loosely woven, etc.) that I fully expected it. As for 44"/45" fabric being smaller, I've gotten burned in the past when figuring out how much of a certain size block I can get out of the WOF. Now I always use 40" as a standard and am STILL caught short even when I measure the WOF first! I will toss my hat in the "you got miss marked fabric" ring. As you have now learned, they lied and it's not the first time either. As for Polly's theory about clothing shrinking when it hangs in the closet for too long -- I'm afraid to tell you all but she's dead wrong. It's not hanging around that does it. Your clothing gets shrunk when you are off on holiday and have left your "babies" at home -- kitties or doggies or birds, etc. They sneak into the closet, take out the clothing and then wash it all in HOT water and load it into the dryer for way tooooo long at too high a heat and THAT is how your clothing shrinks! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!!! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

don't know if 3" is the norm for quilting cotton - but it is for denim jeans!

Musicmaker who only has 2 pair of jeans that fit!

I don't have any 100% cotton denim jeans anymore but DH does. Even when I did wear them, I never had them shrink that much. I wonder what we are doing differently when we wash them??? I've always used warm water to wash and "normal" heat & drying time for DH's jeans. Regardless, on the first wash/dry, they do shrink but not as much as you have experienced and it's never a problem for DH's jeans because he has no legs - 20" inseam -- and it's virtually impossible to jeans that length so I end up getting a 32" length. I wash his new jeans in the hottest water possible but they never shrink enough and he has to turn up the cuffs. I'm not saying your wrong -- far from it -- just that I have never experienced what you have. I wonder what we do differently?? I will say that I have experienced near that much shrinkage when I have pre-washed denim yardage. That stuff shrinks like flannel does! CiaoMeow >^;;^<