It All Comes Out in the Wash

 

I have told you regularly and often that I wash EVERY piece of fabric before I let it into the studio. I wash it in warm water. Then I run it through the dryer, bring it into the studio and iron it. 

The last thing I do before I give a quilt away or use it is run it though the washing machine, in warm water, with a couple of Color Catchers. (I also include a box of Color Catchers with every quilt I gift.) For this quilt, since it was so dark, I used Woolite detergent for dark fabrics. I use it for my black jeans and slacks. It is reputed to keep your darks dark, so I used it for the very dark Deep Space quilt.

This is what the two color catchers looked like when I pulled them out of the washer after I washed the Deep Space quilt. If this isn't proof that you should wash your fabrics before you use them, I don't know what is.

Oh, Those Pesky Raw Edges

I've read a lot about how quilters are annoyed there are so many threads that come loose when they wash fabric. I've read about how some sew a line of stitches 1/2" away from the raw edges to prevent this fraying.  To me, that is WAY TOO MUCH WORK.

I wash every piece of fabric I buy in warm water (yeah, I know the label probably says COLD, but if it's going to shrink or fade, I want that to happen BEFORE I put it into a quilt.)

and before I put the fabric in the dryer, I grab those pesky frayed threads,

and pull until they break.

I keep a cheap pair of scissors near the washing machine so I can cut threads that are too tightly wound. Then I shake out the fabric so it won't dry crumpled, and toss it in the dryer.

The threads go in a small wastebasket I have nearby.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. There's not much you can do about the raw edges of fabric fraying when you wash them, but you don't have to get yourself all worked up about it. If you want to whine and moan and swear and get all frustrated about it, well go right ahead. I'm old enough to have learned that life can be as happy or as miserable as you choose to make it and I just don't have time to waste by letting a piece of fabric get the better of me.

Wash and Roll

My readers ask the best questions. Mary emailed me and asked why a quilter would wash a quilt after finishing it, other than to remove pet hair and dander.

Let me count the ways.

I always wash ALL my fabric as soon as I get it home. I never bring it into the studio unless it has been washed.

Why? When fabric is printed, the manufacturers use a lot of ink to fully saturate the the fabric and give it very intense color. Sometimes the excess dye can rub off right on your hands. (It's called "crocking.") Other times, simply wetting it can cause the excess dye to lift off. That's what happened on a lunch date with a boyfriend over 20 years ago. We were having lunch at the park, and sitting on a new quilt I had made. His water bottle fell over, and some of the dye from the fabric on the quilt stained his khaki pants. I had not washed the fabric before I made the quilt.

That was the last time I ever did that.

When I wash my new fabric, I always use detergent (a scent free detergent) and I always use warm water. A saleslady at a quilt shop was horrified when I mentioned it. "Lynne, this fabric is COLD water wash only."  The understanding was if I washed it in warm water, it would shrink.  Well, yes.

If I am going to wash a quilt in warm water when it's finished I damn well don't want the quilt to shrink any further, so the fabric has to be washed before I cut into it.  Well, wetting the fabric just won't do it. The detergent also removes the "sizing" that manufacturers use the keep the fabric stiff and give the surface a shiny finish, and that takes water that is at least warm.

I don't wash the "Art Quilts," the ones that are designed to hang on walls or get exhibited in quilt shows. They need to stay pristine looking. So I have to be careful when I handle them, how I pack and store them and where I display them.

After I finish a quilt, I bring it outside for "beauty shots." I have hung quilts in trees, thrown them on the ground in the woods, draped quilts over rocks and stone walkways, public pieces of sculpture, fences of all types, draped them over flowers in gardens and spread them out in driveways. I've even photographed quilts in the snow.

This is the "Grand Prismatic" quilt.

I've removed ticks from quilts, so YEAH, when I'm done with the photo shoot, the quilt goes directly into the washing machine, with detergent AND with Shout Color Catchers. (I usually use two.) And then they go in the dryer. Low heat.

Check this out:

These are the color catchers that were in the washing machine when I washed the "Grand Prismatic" quilt. That's a lot of dye floating around from fabric that was already washed. Good reason to use the color catchers.

 

I don't bother with the color catchers when I wash the fabric after I buy it. I separate my lights from my darks, and anything I think will bleed I wash separately.

Like Reds. I made this all red quilt several years ago, and although I washed all the red fabrics before I used them in the quilt, I had to wash the quilt FIVE times before color catchers came out without any excess dye on them. But seriously. It was a RED quilt, front and back. And it was a couch quilt, and it lives on MY couch, so I'm fine with that. And those five times I washed the quilt? They were about six months apart, or whenever I felt the quilt needed it (My cat Millie likes to nap on it.)

Sometimes you just have to get a grip and realize there are bigger problems in life worth worrying about.

Mary asked, "what do you do with the occasional fabric that bleeds like a turnip?" Actually, I've never had that problem, because I only use top quality fabrics (and there is one nationwide sewing shop that sells cheap imitations that I avoid), but if I had a fabric that bled like a turnip, I'd throw it out.

I wash my couch and bed quilts before they go to their new homes because a quilt gets all lovely, soft and crinkly after it is washed, and it is much more likely to get used.

When I give my quilts away, I include washing instructions. It's always this: "Machine wash, warm water, normal cycle. Tumble dry, low, remove promptly. Enjoy."

Because, seriously, if I make you a quilt, I want you to use it. Use it, love it, feel the love I put into it, let it keep you warm, sleep on or under it. It's OK if the dog or the cats sleep on it. That's what washing machines are for. Don't feel guilty. Bring it to the fireworks, bring it to the beach. Throw it in the wash. Wear it out.

I'll make you another one.




***By the way, Mary's quilt guild in Wolfeboro NH makes quilts for patients at the Darmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and their families who stay at David's House (think Ronald McDonald House). Patients often have compromised immune systems so quilts they receive are washed repeatedly and they need to be as colorfast as possible; be soft and cuddly; sturdily made so they can withstand the repeated laundering and rough handling. And of course, they should provide comfort, which is what quilts do.

It's why we make them, and give them away.