As avid sewers, we understand the importance of taking the necessary steps to ensure that our projects turn out beautifully. One crucial step in achieving this is prewashing your fabric before sewing. In this comprehensive guide, we will explain why prewashing is necessary and provide detailed instructions on how to prewash fabric to ensure that your fabrics come out clean, fresh, and ready to use.

Why Prewash Fabric?

Prewashing fabric is an essential step that helps to remove any dirt, dust, or other impurities from the fabric. Fabric manufacturers often treat their fabrics with chemicals to help them maintain their shape during transportation and storage. These chemicals can cause the fabric to shrink, wrinkle, or change colour, which can negatively affect your finished project. Here are the reasons why you should prewash your fabric.

Helps Remove Chemicals

Fabrics are treated with chemicals during production, which can cause skin irritation or other allergic reactions. Prewashing helps to remove these chemicals, making the fabric safer to use.

Avoid Shrinking Your Fabric

Most fabrics will shrink after the first wash, so prewashing helps to prevent unexpected shrinkage after you've already sewn your project.

Sets Dyes

Prewashing helps to set dyes, preventing colour bleeding and fading over time. This is especially important if you are planning on making a project using a combination of light and dark fabrics.

Softens Fabric

Some fabrics can be stiff or scratchy when new, but prewashing softens them, making them more comfortable to wear. You won’t have this problem with our 100% cotton quilting fabrics but we still advise preparing them before sewing with them!

Preparation Instructions

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to prepare your fabrics.

Sort Your Fabric

If you are prewashing multiple quilting fabrics, separate them into piles of similar colours. It might seem obvious, but this step ensures that the darker colours won't bleed and ruin your lighter-coloured fabrics.

Prep Your Washing Machine

Set your washing machine to a gentle, cool water cycle. Hot water can cause shrinkage and can increase the risk of colour bleeding, which can ruin your project. Washing detergent is optional, so if you choose to use it please use a mild detergent that is free of dyes and perfumes to avoid any harsh chemicals that can harm your fabric.

Avoid using fabric conditioner and bleach because they can weaken the fibres of the fabric, which can lead to fraying and discolouring further down the line.

Load Your Fabric into the Washing Machine

Load your sorted fabric into the washing machine and ensure that the machine is not too full. Overcrowding can cause the fabric to twist or warp, which can potentially ruin it.

Dry Your Fabric

Once your fabric is done washing, remove it from the washing machine and transfer it to the dryer. Dry your fabric on a low heat setting to avoid shrinkage. Avoid over-drying your fabric as this can cause the fabric to become brittle, which you do not want.

If you don’t have a dryer, hang the fabric up or place the fabric on a flat surface so that you can avoid forming wrinkles while it dries out.

Iron Your Fabric

Once your fabric is dry, iron it on the appropriate heat setting for the fabric type. This step helps remove any wrinkles that may have formed during the washing and drying process, and it helps prepare the fabric for sewing. Using steam in your iron can also help remove the wrinkles.

That’s it! You’re all good to go!

Preparation Infographic

To make life even easier for you, we have created a washing and drying infographic for you to use. Simply click on the image to get the full-res version, right click and save!

Conclusion

Prewashing your fabric is a necessary step to achieve the best possible results for your sewing projects. By prewashing your fabric, you're taking a critical step towards ensuring the longevity and quality of your projects. By following the techniques and tips outlined in this guide, you can confidently prewash your fabrics and achieve excellent results every time.

Want to know more about your favourite quilting cottons? Read our Quilting Fabric 101 guide to find out everything you need to know!

The Fabric Fox is an online fabric shop based in Halstead, Essex, UK

Please visit our About section for more information

You can contact us at info@thefabricfox.co.uk