Posted by dravon in Education & Instruction | Comments Off on Sample Board: Pre-Washing Example
Sample Board: Pre-Washing Example
Since I started teaching, I created a board which I’ve been adding all kinds of samples to so that when I’m talking about something in class I can immediately point to it. Many of the samples are visuals only, but some are meant to be hands-on. For this series of “Sample Board” posts, I’m going to go through a single sample and briefly talk about it. If it’s a hands on sample, I’ll probably make a little video for it.
First up: is it really important to wash my fabric before I start sewing with it?
Answer: I would definitely advise doing it as often as possible. Why? A host of reasons, first and most obvious among them:
This sample features a basic cotton plain weave fabric. I cut out two squares at the same time. They were 5″ in size. I chucked one into the wash with the regular laundry, and the other remained unwashed. I put the unwashed one down onto my board with the right side visible.
When the washed one came out of the dryer, I put it wrong side visible on top of the unwashed piece. In the above picture you can see on the side there, which is the cross grain width, that the fabric shrank in this process. Looking across the top, you can see that the fabric also shrank a small bit on the grain length. This level of shrinkage is not the same! It shrank more on the cross-grain than the grain. Now if I’d made a shirt with this fabric, suddenly that shirt might not be fitting so well across the bust as it was before the washing. Eeee!
There are a couple of other reasons as well. During the process of manufacture and merchandising, there are additives that are put onto the fabric such as starch. While I may think a fabric feels pretty good, it will feel differently after it’s been washed at least once. The washing gets rid of all those additives and now I can really assess the fabric for the job that I’m thinking of using it for.
It would also usually be helpful to know how colorfast a dye is before giving the finished item as a gift only to have it immediately fade. That’s always fun (not). This doesn’t happen very often, fortunately, but it does sometimes happen. I purchased a gorgeous bright red flannel for something, popped it into the wash and it came out a sickly magenta pink. Egad! Not a pleasant surprise.
Those are the three Big Three for why to pre-wash: shrinkage, additive removal, and fade potential.
Do you absolutely HAVE to? No, not at all. But if the fabric isn’t pre-washed, this is the risk being consciously taken.
What should be pre-washed? Pretty much anything washable. Cottons, flannel, denim, linens and like items particularly. The polyester, rayon, acetate, etc families don’t typically shrink and the starches added during manufacturing can actually make rayons and acetates and the like a bit easier to handle. Definitely, do NOT pre-wash anything which is dry clean only! I would also include pre-washing of any interfacing you may plan to use. I’ll see about trying to get samples illustrating why this is a suggestion!
I do advise using a serger to overlock the raw edges of the fabric prior to washing, if possible. Otherwise, just run a zig-zag down it. It’s always fun to open the washing machine or dryer to find miles of unraveled thread which used to be fabric balled up to greet you. I also take the fabric out of the dryer as close to the end of cycle as I can. This means that if I wind it around its bolt while it’s still warm, it doesn’t wrinkle as badly. Sometimes though I still have to iron it. Trying to cut pre-washed wrinkled fabric is really challenging in terms of getting a good clean cut.
Do you have any pre-washing stories, tips or tid-bits to share? I’d love to hear them!
Until we meet again, Happy Sewing!
– Dravon
