sewing with cotton velveteen

[Jster]

I've bought some velveteen to make Christmas dresses for my girls, and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or ideas about it. It said "professional cleaning recommended" but I'm pretty sure I've seen RTW ones that weren't dry clean only. So, anyone have any experience w/ velveteen? I'm trying to decide how to prewash it, I was thinking of just serging the raw edges and machine washing, but wasn't sure about temperatures, etc.

TIA!

[she]

Totally washable, just dry on a lower temp to prevent hard creases. Wash in cold if you're timid, but warm is fine - but will cause more shrinkage, which is good or bad, depending on how you think about it.

[beanma]

thanks, i bought some for dresses, too, and have never used it before.