There are two sides to the current quilting world – those that pre-wash, and those that do not. Whether you decide to pre-wash all of your fabric is up to you, but you should know the reasons why you may consider pre-washing all of your quilting materials. The one reason that may people choose to pre-wash is very simple – fabric tends to bleed. Any sort of vivid color will usually bleed when you wash it, and if you have just made a brand new quilt any amount of bleeding can really ruin your beautiful work. If you want to know whether or not your fabric will bleed, you can simply place a piece of your fabric into water filled with soap, and upon removal look to see whether or not the fabric is in tact. If the fabric does bleed, you will certainly want to pre-wash it. Other than bleeding, you should know that some cotton blends tend to shrink, which can also cause harm to a finished quilt. Even if you never plan on washing your quilt, think about future generations that just may be tempted to put your quilt into a washing machine – how horrible it would be if your heirloom becomes ruined! In the end, pre-washing just makes sense. In fact, there is hardly a reason why you shouldn’t pre-wash a material (unless it is highly sensitive). Before you begin any sort of quilting work, make sure that your materials will stay in tact for a long time to come. After all, you have worked very hard in order to create a piece of art, why let a washing machine ruin it?
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