Quilting Fabric: My ‘Spin’ on the Spin Cycle

Some quilters ALWAYS pre-wash their quilting fabric, while others never do, but there is rarely any middle ground. To me there is no right or wrong, but purely personal preference.

For the most part, I do not prewash my fabric. The biggest reason for this is impatience - making a quilt takes long enough, so when I bring home new quilting fabric, I want to just get started with my project! The other reason that I do not pre-wash is that I like the "slightly puckered" look when the fabric bunches up between the quilting lines.

Many of the manufacturers of high-quality quilting fabric actually already pre-shrink the 100% cotton fabric before they even add the color to it. However, If I have a red, dark blue or purple fabric, I will prewash it just to be sure (or at least perform a bleed test) - it would be a shame to discover bleeding after the quilt is complete.
The Specialty Pre-Cuts that are so prevalent today warrant a special mention:

-Jelly Rolls
-Charm Packs
-Layer Cakes
-Honey Buns
-Turnover Triangles

While the innovator in these pre-cut fabric packages has been Moda Fabrics, many of the other premium brands of quilting fabric have caught on to the trend and have started to offer these choices as well, although they may call them by a different name.

This pre-cut quilting fabric should generally not be washed - for two main reasons . . . first, the pieces are already on the smaller side and you don't want them to shrink any more. Secondly, many of the quilt patterns that have been written for these specialty cuts take the measurements at their full, unwashed size.

Also, many patterns for fat quarters utilize the full 18 x 22 measurement, and if the fat quarter has been shrunk by pre-washing, you may have a problem when you start to cut.

So when it comes to the vital question: "To wash or not to wash", my advice is to try a quilt both ways and see which result you prefer.