A dumbo question on HUGs

Count me with the majority. New fabric gets thrown in the laundry
basket to get washed with our jeans and sweatshirts. That way, years
down the line, I can use it for a bed quilt, a hug block, an artquilt
that will never see water, anything. I don't have to remember what I
was thinking when I bought it.


Having said that, I should point out that problems with bleeding and
excessive shrinking are rare. Flannel shrinks and unravels so I take
that into account when working with it. Everything else probably would
be O.K. if I didn't wash it-- but I do wash it. In all these years, and
with a stash that's reaching embarrassing proportions, I've only run
into bothersome bleeding fabric 3x. That was enough. I pre-wash.


--Lia

Sharon wrote:
On Jan 30, 11:41 pm, "SewVeryCreative"
wrote:
Since so many here do the HUGs I was wondering what the overall preference
is on prewashing fabric for the HUG blocks ...

Prewash? No? Depends on the fabric/shop the fabric was bought at?

snip

When I buy fabric, it comes in the house and straight to the laundry
room to be washed - it never goes up to the sewing room till it's
washed. Got into this habit from a dear old quilting lady friend of
mine.

Sharon (N.B.)



Ditto. That's why charm packs dive me crazy! A pain to wash
and iron 35 squares. And they *do* shrink, so you don't
really get your 5" worth. Oh, don't get me started so early
in the morning! LOL

Karen in WI

SewVeryCreative wrote:

Prewash? No? Depends on the fabric/shop the fabric was bought at?


I should have mentioned in my post of a few minutes ago-- I've found NO
connection between where the fabric was bought or how expensive it is
with how likely it is to shrink or bleed. My experiences with bad
fabrics are rare, but when I have met a bad one, it could come from the
expensive local quilt store or from the flat fold bargain table at the
discount shop. I have found it useful to get good at looking at,
smelling, feeling, and rubbing fabric in the store to get an idea of its
quality there.


--Lia

Sharon wrote:
On Jan 30, 11:41 pm, "SewVeryCreative"
wrote:
Since so many here do the HUGs I was wondering what the overall preference
is on prewashing fabric for the HUG blocks ...

Prewash? No? Depends on the fabric/shop the fabric was bought at?

Is there a general consensus or is this a question best asked to the person
actually hosting the HUG?

Sorry for asking such a totally dumbo question ... but in my local guild
alone, there's an over-abundance of opinions. In this case, I figure there's
probably a consensus (my new word for the day, apparently) and it might be a
matter of etiquette ...

TIA!!
--
Connie http://sewverycreative.blogspot.com

When I buy fabric, it comes in the house and straight to the laundry
room to be washed - it never goes up to the sewing room till it's
washed. Got into this habit from a dear old quilting lady friend of
mine.

Sharon (N.B.)


I can't find the original post, so I'm piggy-backing...

I don't wash ALL my fabrics when they come in, but anything chosen for a
hug quilt or a Round Robin type exercise I DO wash. I also wash all
fabrics going out as part of a swap. That way no surprises for the
recipient, and any that turn out disastrous can be swapped out before
they go off.

I wash MOST squishy fabrics, but any I don't manage to do that with get
labelled as unwashed when they go.

Yesterday I washed 12 metres of silk! THAT was fun! I now have the
gown and lining cut out of one, ready to sew any minute, and the other
is hanging up out of the way of cats, dust, boys and husbands! Some
dress fabrics get washed if there is any doubt about how they will
behave and the garment needs to be washable.

--
Kate XXXXXX R.C.T.Q Madame Chef des Trolls
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.katedicey.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Thank you, guys!! Every single one of you gave me the BEST reasons to
pre-wash!! Bleeding? Yuck ... especially when it bleeds onto a finished top
or quilt!! Shrinking ... ditto (though not as noticeable, I would guess)!

The reason I asked: I've been quilting for over 11 years ("anniversary" was
three weeks ago!!Yay!) and I took about 5 years "off" - I still quilted
occasionally (for sanity's sake), but didn't belong to a guild, really
didn't read the gazillions of magazines that I bought (never let any
subscriptions end - I'll NEVER catch up!!) and since my hiatus occured at
the same time as our move, I didn't make any REAL quilty friends (just
acquaintances)... so here I am back again in a social quilting group and I
have no idea on how things have changed!!

The other day I was having lunch with a couple of guild members and we
started talking about the "rules" ... one said it was ALWAYS important to
pre-wash. The other said that was "archaic and ancient" thinking (exact
words, AFAIR), totally pooh-poohing it. I sat there, not knowing how much
things have changed, so I kept silent whilst the two went back and forth
over the advantages and disadvantages of each side (it actually ended in an
argument). *sigh*

The one thing they both agreed on was that if you had half pre-washed and
half NOT it would end up wonkier than the cabinet leg in my bathroom (which
is pretty durn wonky). And I did NOT want to send off HUG blocks to some
sweet soul who'd have to deal with any problems I gave her!!

*sigh*

So off I am to prewash ... some nice batiks ... hint, hint, hint. Bought
enough for at least 4 or 5 blocks!! Yay!!!!

Thank you again!!!

Warm quilty hugs to you all!!
--
Connie
http://sewverycreative.blogspot.com


"SewVeryCreative" wrote in message
...
Since so many here do the HUGs I was wondering what the overall preference
is on prewashing fabric for the HUG blocks ...

Prewash? No? Depends on the fabric/shop the fabric was bought at?

Is there a general consensus or is this a question best asked to the
person
actually hosting the HUG?

Sorry for asking such a totally dumbo question ... but in my local guild
alone, there's an over-abundance of opinions. In this case, I figure
there's
probably a consensus (my new word for the day, apparently) and it might be
a
matter of etiquette ...

TIA!!
--
Connie
http://sewverycreative.blogspot.com

On Jan 30, 11:29*pm, "Marigold" wrote:
I'm like Sharon and Jean
Everything goes straight to the laundry room before it ever sees the sewing
room. That way it is always ready for me when I get the bug to cut.
If HUG blocks required the use of unwashed fabric, I would have to go
shopping specifically for that block and then wash the scraps.

Marilyn
in getting warmer again
Alberta, Canada

"SewVeryCreative" wrote in message

...



Since so many here do the HUGs I was wondering what the overall preference
is on prewashing fabric for the HUG blocks ...

Prewash? No? Depends on the fabric/shop the fabric was bought at?

Is there a general consensus or is this a question best asked to the
person
actually hosting the HUG?

Sorry for asking such a totally dumbo question ... but in my local guild
alone, there's an over-abundance of opinions. In this case, I figure
there's
probably a consensus (my new word for the day, apparently) and it might be
a
matter of etiquette ...

TIA!!
--
Connie
http://sewverycreative.blogspot.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I don't like washing/pressing the fabrics, but there's always a dark
color that I'm afraid will bleed in the
finished quilt. So then, I figure I can't wash just one fabric and not
wash all of them.
I always buy good quality fabric from LQS or online. And I always look
in the wash, and they don't seem
to "bleed". Does fabric hold color these days and not bleed like they
used to? Is it really necessary
to pre-wash for that reason?

Sherry

I've said it before, and I'll say it again ('cause I hate it THAT much): I
*HATE* doing laundry!! So if it's a utility quilt, I don't prewash UNLESS
we're talking deep blue, dark red, deep purple or bright, bright pink
fabrics. Those I prewash like a fiend (thusly, they are the colors I have
the fewest of in my stash)!!

I just hate doing laundry ... if I prewash some fabric, well, then, I might
as well get a load done for DD and DS and out of the way ... and if I'm
doing one for them, might as well do one for DH ... and durn it, I deserve
to have clean undies, too!! So ... if I plan to prewash *today* the fabric
will get bumped several times and won't get washed until three days later --
meanwhile, I want to sew NOW!!!

I have always wanted to learn how to dye fabric (I'm going to take a Quilt U
class in March for it!! Yay!!) and the *only* thing that's kept me from
trying it so far is ... washing!!! Yuk. I hate washing *that* much ... ain't
it sad?!

Warm, warm quilty hugs!!
--
Connie
http://sewverycreative.blogspot.com


"Sherry" wrote in message
...
I don't like washing/pressing the fabrics, but there's always a dark
color that I'm afraid will bleed in the
finished quilt. So then, I figure I can't wash just one fabric and not
wash all of them.
I always buy good quality fabric from LQS or online. And I always look
in the wash, and they don't seem
to "bleed". Does fabric hold color these days and not bleed like they
used to? Is it really necessary
to pre-wash for that reason?

Sherry

Okay ... soooo ... if you're going to wash, say 8 fabrics, 4 different
colors, say, about 1/2 to 1 yards lengths ... do you wash'em all at once? Or
are we talking x different loads?? Four are batiks, gold and burgundy ...
four are fairly deep purple and green ... and then four are traditional
Amish colors (Kona cottons: Black, Red, Gold and Green).

The Amish can go in a load on their own, since they're all for a HUGE lap
quilt and is about 3-4 yards each ... but what about the others? Each one
separately? According to color? The batiks are what I'm most worried about
.... several of ya'll said that they're particularly notorious for
misbehaving in the wash!!

Again, TIA!!! You guys are AWESOME!!!
--
Connie
http://sewverycreative.blogspot.com


"SewVeryCreative" wrote in message
...
Since so many here do the HUGs I was wondering what the overall preference
is on prewashing fabric for the HUG blocks ...

HUGs??? What are they??? It's not on the list of abbreviations and I'm
not sure what HUGs are.

Mary in Mesa


SewVeryCreative wrote:
Since so many here do the HUGs I was wondering what the overall preference
is on prewashing fabric for the HUG blocks ...

Prewash? No? Depends on the fabric/shop the fabric was bought at?

Is there a general consensus or is this a question best asked to the person
actually hosting the HUG?

Sorry for asking such a totally dumbo question ... but in my local guild
alone, there's an over-abundance of opinions. In this case, I figure there's
probably a consensus (my new word for the day, apparently) and it might be a
matter of etiquette ...

TIA!!
--
Connie
http://sewverycreative.blogspot.com

I prewash too... and NOT because I like doing laundry - it's just that
having a few FQ in the load makes the folding at the end more enjoyable!
And, after having fabric bleed (during the washing step fortunately)
I am not ready to take the chance of something bleeding in the final
quilt. So.... if you send something unwashed perhaps you should let the
other person know about it....
my 2cents
Allison

nzlstar* wrote:
but washing is part of playing with the fabrics.
i get to hang them all on the line lovingly.
chuckle cuz i know the neighbour is drooling over my new fabs.
then when dry, get to hand press as i fold them to fit their assigned posi
(position).
its all part of the play here.
yup, every single piece goes straight into the laundry room first.
its all washed, when in doubt i wash first.
taking no chances on later shrinkage or worse, bleeding.
eeeeeeeek.
j.

"SewVeryCreative" wrote...
Ahh ... so if I were to send you blocks for a HUG you would assume that they
were already washed? I just REALLY don't want to send blocks that would just
end up being an inconvenience ... b-u-u-u-u-t , if I don't *have* to prewash
....
You're a far, far, better person than I am, Sharon! I *hate* doing laundry.
And having to prewash my fabric before I can really play with it, is, to me,
adding insult to injury!

But I'll bet that you don't like doing laundry either (who does??) ...
you're just more disciplined than I am!!!


"Sharon" wrote...
When I buy fabric, it comes in the house and straight to the laundry
room to be washed - it never goes up to the sewing room till it's
washed. Got into this habit from a dear old quilting lady friend of
mine.

Sharon (N.B.)