Pre-shrinking ?

[TrishWSU]

How do you pre-shrink fabric (other than washing it? ) Do you need to use laundry detergent? How do you keep the edges from fraying everywhere?

TIA

[Kari_mom]

I wash cold with detergent, dry medium. If it is a fabric I think will shrink a lot, I wash hot to help it along. I use detergent because the sizing and other chemicals on the fabric will give me a headache when I press it with a hot iron.

I detest raggedy edges, it's a thing I have. I will often straighten a woven fabric edge by tearing across the grain as soon as I am home. This reduces fraying a lot because now the threads have to come loose all the way across the width of the fabric. If it is really loosely woven, I will sew the edges together with a zig zag stitch before prewashing. If I had a serger, I would serge the edges instead.

HTH!

[kerc]

I wash like I would when I use it -- I mostly make kids clothes and/or diapers. So I wash it all on either warm or hot. Most of my diaper fabrics are fleece, so they don't shrink.

I serge the ends. Before I had my serger I would just stitch with a straight stitch across the end.