Here's Sarah's quilt before washing. And here it is on her bed after:
This was the first full-size quilt I machine quilted, and it was somewhat of a struggle pushing that big thing through my machine, but I am happy with it, my daughter loves it, and most importantly it was tremendous fun making it!! I got it finished last night, which was just in time since my classes resumed today.
Here's the back:
I love how soft and crinkly it is!Quilters are split into two groups, those that pre-wash their fabric and those that don't. I am of the camp that doesn't. I like the crispness of unwashed fabric for piecing and I am much too lazy to starch it all. I also like the extra shrinkage I get from using unwashed fabric, it makes my quilts more crinkly. I threw 2 Shout color catchers in with this quilt when I washed it, and had no dye run at all. In fact, I have never had a problem with dye bleeding in my quilts. Pre-washing or not, it's all a matter of personal preference, what's yours?
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Wow, a finished bed-sized quilt, after all that time of not getting to get near the machine ! Praise the LORD !
ReplyDeleteThat looks really good. Sarah must be thrilled. You really got that put together and finished quickly......seems like a family trait, huh?
Well, let's see, to answer your question, I always prewash all my fabrics except for precuts like charm squares or jelly rolls.
I tend to have problems with rich red fabrics, whether they're prewashed or not. In fact, the other day while getting out my Christmas quilties, I noticed that another quilt has some bleeding in it, just from the humidity it has encountered during storage ! Exasperating !
This newest zigzag is mostly unwashed precut strips from Connecting Threads, with a few washed strips from my stash. I just hope that they all shrink at the same rate.
I love it! I bought some fabric for a quilt about 5 months ago and pieced one block and haven't touched it since. (If I do get back to work on it, it will be my second quilt--I made one about 20 years ago.)
ReplyDeleteDolly, I think you're right, working fast does seem be a family trait! :)
ReplyDeleteI never considered that bleeding could occur just from humidity, that would definitely be exasperating!! Since most of the fabric in this quilt was from CT, I don't think you'll have trouble with it shrinking at different rates, I had no problem with it.
Kateri, I hope you get time to work on your quilt, it is so satisfying when you get one done ;)