Washing Yardage

Nov 23, 2005 5 Replies

If you are going to wash more than 2 yards of fabric, it gets less twisted and wrinkled if you wash it folded-accordian style. I lay mine out on the bed (opening up the original fold from the bolt) and fan-fold or accordian-pleat in about 12" sections. I don't measure or anything, just do it as easily as I can. Then, I use big safety pins and pin the selvedge edges on each side - 2 or 3 pins, depending on how wide it ends up. It goes into the washer and dryer like this, and comes out nicely- not all twisted up.



I had heard about this, then saw this tip in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. I tried it after than, and found it very helpful, so I'm passing it along.


Notice I didn't say anything about whether you *should* was yardage. Just, "if you are going to..."

Okay, I've finished laughing about my vision of self, meticulously unwinding the puzzle of freshly washed fabrics while mumbling a few well chosen words. My only concern with this method is the possibility of the safety pins rusting. You would have to make sure that they were rust proof. Do they make the "big" safety pins rust proof? I only buy the little ones for machine quilting. Thanks for sharing your tip.

Carole Champlain, NY

I do this same technique, but I make larger folds and sew across one end of the selvage.

I have done pieces as long as 10 yds w/ this method. Accordion fold about 1 yd widths, sew along one edge, wash and dry. Rip out stitches so the last little bit on the edge can dry out.

Works really well.

Cappy

I just bought 10 yards of fabric and was wondering how to go about washing it - Thanks for the marvelous hint!!!

If your fabric is a little "slippery," you might need to pin so the middle layers don't slide out. That's about the only downfall on this method...

Cappy

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