I belong to a group which makes hats for chemo patients. We crochet or knit some afghans too. Recently, we had a bunch of books of fabric samples donated to us and I’m in the process of making a lap quilt or two with some of it.
It’s cool because the fabrics I’m using right now are all cheerfully color coordinated and they’re all %100 cotton. They’re light weight too. However, they’re small swatches which yeild two 3 5/8" squares for each piece. I’d like to save washing them until they’re pieced together. Is this wise?
Also, since these are actually made for curtains and upholstering, most of them have a stain resistant finish. The few I’m concerned about have almost an oilcloth-like finish on the right side. It’s lighter than true oilcloth but has that sheen to it. Should I not use these?
It’s better to prewash your fabric and I’ve never taken a class that the instructor didn’t indicate the fabric should be prewashed. It would be unwise to piece with some fabric prewashed and some unwashed. If the unwashed cut pieces are all 100% cotton and the same weight and all the pieces are unwashed you’ll probably be ok. If you do that I would suggest that after you get it pieced you go ahead and wash the pieced top before you put it together and start the quilting. It’s harder to quilt through the sizing that is in most fabric at purchase.
I’ve seen experienced folks use upholstering fabrics on art type quilts, with some success, but I’ve seen more less experienced folks sadly disappointed in the results.
But I like to use unwashed fabric, as long as it’s all unwashed and also all cotton. I like the stiffness the commercial sizing gives for piecing and quilting - if I do have a prewashed piece, I’ll press it with sizing in it myself. And little bitty pieces are too likely to fray in the wash, rendering them useless.
I also like the way that to quilt top bunches up if you quilt it and completely finish it before washing. It’s not as flat, no, but I like a little more texture in my quilts, and the gathering around the quilting is interesting.
Upholstery fabrics are often quite different from dress fabrics. (The calicos normally used in quilting are dress fabrics.)
Upholstery fabrics often have large amounts of sizing or surface treatments. Chintz, for example, is treated with a heavy glaze. They might not even be all that colorfast. It is not expected that upholstery fabrics will be machine washed, so they may not be “washable,” even if they are 100% cotton.
So, you should definitely wash the pieces first–possibly even multiple times. See how they come out. You can press them with starch if you like a stiffer fabric to work with.
Your pieces don’t sound particularly “small,” either. What type of pattern are you doing? If you were to do a simple 9-patch-type, you could decide the size of the patches based on the finished size of your fabric piece. Easy!
I see Cowgirl Jules’s post on preview. I have to disagree. Going the unwashed route is only advisable if you are using a known type of fabric and you’re somewhat experienced, and can therefore predict the shrinkage results to some degree. Since the OP is a beginner, and is using an unknown fabric, then pre-washing is necessary. Besides, fabric samples are usually edged with pinking shears. If the pinked edges fray too much to be usuable after a couple of washes, then the fabric is too delicate to be used in this type of quilte, anyway.