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From: lendube
Date: 03-08-2007, 09:55 PM (1 of 4)
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Just having read temom's post I'm wondering what to do with the all cotton batting for my first quilt. It's very big but I intend to use it as a wall hanging in my stairwell and wash it very occasionally, cold, low dry. Should I preshrink? I have a front loading washer. Should I just use a hand wash cycle and cold water or what? thanks, Lennie |
User: lendube
Member since: 08-06-2006 Total posts: 1548 |
From: esrun3
Date: 03-10-2007, 09:25 PM (2 of 4)
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Lennie, if you prewash your fabric, you should prewash and shrink your cotton batting-otherwise your batting will shrink more than your fabric. If you don't prewash the fabric, then don't prewash your batting. I made my first quilt without prewashing anything and it washed up very nicely and shrunk "just right" without either being preshrunk. HTH. Sorry, I forgot to answer your question about how to shrink.....when I prewash/shrink cotton batting, I just soak it in the sink in warm water until it's really well saturated and let it soak for a bit. Then press the water out and roll it up in a towel, hand over the shower and let it dry. I'm sure others will be along with other ideas for you soon! Lyn
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User: esrun3
Member since: 12-02-2004 Total posts: 2345 |
From: lendube
Date: 03-10-2007, 10:24 PM (3 of 4)
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I'm surprised that letting it air dry will actually shrink it. It's been warm lately with low humidity. It'd be a good time to do that tomorrow. I always preshrink cottons so it's good to know that rule of thumb. Thanks, Lyn. Lennie |
User: lendube
Member since: 08-06-2006 Total posts: 1548 |
From: emrysambrosius
Date: 03-11-2007, 12:26 AM (4 of 4)
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Don't use the agitator at all with cotton batting. It will come apart in pieces, never to be used at all. I use water set between warm and hot, put the batting in, fill with water, turn off the machine and let it sit in that water until water is cold. Then I reset machine to drain and spin, then shut off. I put it in the dryer and set it for low or medium. My dryer is prone to run hotter than most, so usually set on low for 1 hour. I check and reset timer until batting is definatly dry. I take it out right away and fold it in half length then width to keep from wrinkling. It's now ready to use. I don't wash poly batting. It is a very rare thing to have anything 100% poly shrink. Good luck with your shrinking emrysambrosius |
User: emrysambrosius
Member since: 10-08-2004 Total posts: 4 |
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