2009 BOM--prewash or not?

[Margo C.]

OK, Keith! You've admitted that you are working on the BOM!

WE WANT PHOTOS!!! And a Member Blog would be great, too!

BTW....Your Christmas Crossing is looking really good!!

[Denise L.]

Keith,I agree your Christmas quilt is really nice. Yes and we're waiting for pix on your BOM.

denise

[Jules M.]

OK, Keith! You've admitted that you are working on the BOM!

WE WANT PHOTOS!!! And a Member Blog would be great, too!

BTW....Your Christmas Crossing is looking really good!!

Oh yes... do tell!!

Joyce

[Keith D.]

Admit things?!? Did I do that?

Feathered star: done
Triangles to put it on point: done
Four patches (I'm appliqueing circles instead): done
Setting triangles: half done
Spacer borders: fabric picked but don't know the size yet...
Variable stars: haven't started them

2 days left and I have to bowl our city tournament this weekend - I'm behind. But I didn't start until this month so really I'm almost caught up...

We had a home break-in two weeks ago (It wasn't bad, but this is maybe more for a member blog - I'll have to figure out how to do that...) and I'm staring right now at my new chocolate Canon PowerShot. It should be easy to figure out... I'll get pics in soon...

Thanks for the encouraging words!!

[Margo C.]

Looking forward to seeing and hearing more! It's nice to have a man around the house!! :lol:

We do have other members who are guys, but they are mostly the silent type. Glad to have you sharing our journey!

[Patti P.]

Holy cow Margo, I'm surprised at how much shrinkage you got! That got my attention. I like the old fashion look too but that much is something that one must consider a significant element. Things that make you go....hummm.

[Margo C.]

Patti, if you don't want that much shrinkage, you should prewash (pre-shrink!) all of you fabrics before you make the quilt and pre-shrink the batting before you make the sandwich or use a batt that does not shrink. READ THE DIRECTIONS ON THE PACKAGE! Some cotton batts will look like wet kleenex if you wet them!
Then wash it in cold or warm water (I use hot!) and don't dry it in a hot dryer, but lay it flat on the floor or bed to dry, then fluff it in the dryer set on no heat! You won't get as much shrinkage that way.
I know how this family does their laundry, so I wanted to shrink it as much as possible so they wouldn't think they had done something wrong the first time they washed it and it got smaller than when I delivered it! I do the same thing when I gift a baby quilt....hoping that it will get used and loved to death!! :wink:

[Margo C.]

I don't prewash. I did once on a line of fabric because they knew it to shrink alot. To the point they rewrote the pattern based on the shrinkage of the line. But otherwise I don't. I also like the puckery happiness that you get when you wash fabric for the first time. And the first time I wash a quilt I always use Retayne. Don't know if it works, just know that I have never had bleeding issues and that is good enough for me.

[Margo C.]

to quote Benita Skinner, Victoria Quilt Design, "As a special note: All my new fabrics are washed before they get added to the collection. There are good reasons for this (dye running & shrinkage), but I mostly do it for removal of the chemicals fabric companies use. I don’t want to risk my health. When you press unwashed fabric the steam travels the chemicals into your breathing zone. Please be careful…I learnt about this from a fellow quilter who got very ill for this reason."
http://quiltinggallery.com/2009/02/24/fabric-storage
for her full article

[Keith D.]

Aaaauuggghhhh!!!!

Benita Skinner was quoted about harmful fabric chemicals and then a web site reference was provided as if to support that fabric has harmful chemicals but it only quoted Benita Skinner saying what we already knew she said...

Who's Benita? Is she a medical doctor? Is she a fabric manufacturing expert? Is she a chemical engineer? Who's this friend? What did the doctors say? What did the fabric companies say? What did any research demonstrate?

I want to prewash my fabrics if my health is in danger. (Actually I don't want to buy fabric if my health is in danger.)

I don't want to prewash if my health is not at risk.

I don't want to prewash just because a fan of a pattern designer who knows a friend of a friend who got sick and she thinks it might be because she smelled something when she ironed some unwashed fabric...

Is this like an allergy? Is this like lactose intolerance? I shouldn't drink milk if I can't digest it? Or is this like smoking - it can hurt everybody, even passive people who stand next to my iron? Or is fabric production bad for the planet and where do the harmful chemicals go when I wash the fabric anyway? Should we prewash or should we just not buy fabric with dangerous chemicals?

Help!!! This doesn't sound like something about which wise women could disagree if they were presented with all the reliable information...

Now I'm feeling guilty because I wear antiperspirant with fragrance and I sometimes use fabric softener (for my clothes) and I drink reduced calorie sports drinks with artificial color.

And now I'm laughing at myself...

What is it with Tuesday night after bowling, after a cocktail, and when I really should be in bed?

[Keith D.]

"Puckery Happiness" - I like that.

[Keith D.]

Keth, I loved your post and I agree with everything you said. I do NOT prewash - did that once and have a stack of fabric that Im trying to get rid of, I regret doing it as it was a big waste of my time. I only use top quality fabric and I do not believe there are any bad chemicals in it and it does not shrink much if at all and as far as bleeding I have had no problems (throw in a a color catcher, actually i give one along with the quilt) I have made over 100 quilts and no one has ever had any problems. I use starch, starch does not attract bugs, I did research on that one. I have only been quilting for 5 years so I do not have all that "old wives tales" stuff in my head. I also only quilt on my machine. Hand quilters and people who have been quilting for 20+ years have a different mind set. I think every one should do what is comfortable for them. I just wish they would not put their opinions out there as if it were a law or something. Guess I will get off my soap box now and go to bed, Think I talk too much at 3AM -

[Keith D.]

LOL, y'all have made me giggle this am. My name is Sandi and I am a fabric addict, chemicals and all. I will buy it even if it is bad for me. Please don't send me to fabric addiction rehab unless there is a quilt shop nearby that I can sneak off to. Sandi in FL

[Keith D.]

Whew! I feel better now. I'm glad my post wasn't offensive to everybody. All night I was wondering if some of my frustration came through as mean-spirited. I hope not! This is too nice a place for that! If I came across as mean-spirited, I'm sorry. ops:

I am still a little frustrated - I don't want to be scared of my fabric. And I'm not. But I might try to research this a little more.

And I don't want to wash dangerous chemicals (if there are any in fabric) into planet earth.

[Keith D.]

Aaaauuggghhhh!!!!
Is this like an allergy? Is this like lactose intolerance? I shouldn't drink milk if I can't digest it? Or is this like smoking - it can hurt everybody, even passive people who stand next to my iron? Or is fabric production bad for the planet and where do the harmful chemicals go when I wash the fabric anyway? Should we prewash or should we just not buy fabric with dangerous chemicals?

Guess it is with fabric like anything else, you can get allergy. I know a few with fabric allergy :shock: ...but its not the cemicals they react to but the dust :lol: :lol:

I need to tell you..a few years ago I bought some real nice bedlinnen...I loved it so much I bougt it in 3 different colors, red, yellow and green. Guess what happened when I slept under the green linnen?? Woke up with red spots all over :shock: :shock: . I was wached 20 times in boiling water, didnt help. But I really enjoyed my red and yellow linnen :P

And..I do not prewash..havent done in 20 years and never had a bleed going on. I wash all my quilts when I am done, and if they are quilted more than stitch-in-the-ditch, they will come out both beautiful and flat!