washing fabric before sewing

[Rie]

I have purchased the following to make AIO and covers:

Windpro fleece
PUL
Coolmax
Velure (100% cotton)
microfiber towels

Do I need to wash and dry all of these on hot before I cut out the patterns?
Since they will be washed in hot as diapers...just curious what to do before I get started. With out wrecking anything!

TIA
Rie

[amysuen]

I don't know what Coolmax is, but anything that has cotton in it may shrink so you want to wash/dry it first. Anything 100% poly won't shrink so you don't need to.

[Rie]

Great Thanks!

Coolmax is used in athletic gear...a wick a way fabric. I'm going to try it as the lining for a few dipes and see how it works!

[our3boys]

Assuming you PUL is solid colored polyester, I personally would only wash the velour. And I would probably wash/dry it a couple of times to make sure it has finished shrinking.

However, even the polyesters can bleed when washed. (Though it has not happened to me yet.) I actually worry more about discoloring the bed of my sewing machine than messing up a whole load of diapers. So if you are worried about colors running, you'll want to wash those first, too. (I play roulette.)

[Kari_mom]

I would wash everything but the PUL, and I would wash them separately. The two top concerns are shrinkage and dyes bleeding, of course, and most of your fabrics shouldn't do either. But I find fleece and microfibers can be dusty either from storage or from extra fibers still hanging around from manufacturing, and washing takes care of that. Makes it more pleasant to sew.

I don't prewash PUL because I find it a PITB to dry and fold again.

[courtenay_e]

I think the general rule is that you should launder everything the way you would once the piece is finished. THat said, I generally only launder stuff that will shrink on me once it's finished if I don't. I, too, think it's a pain in the kiester to refold stuff that will need to be folded to cut...so if it's not gonna shrink or bleed, I don't wash it!