How to Prepare Fabric for Quilting
Any time that you are working on a quilting project, it is a necessity to prepare the fabric so that it will be machine ready and the fabric will work better for you. There are so many great things that you can create when quilting, often times for the same or less money than you can purchase it for in a retail store.
- Unfold all of your fabric pieces. You might have purchased some of your fabric pieces in precut sections known as quarter fats. Other times, you may have purchased large pieces of fabric and have cut them down to the size you want to create repeating patterns.
- Hand wash or machine wash on the gentle cycle all of your fabric pieces. This removes any excess dies as well as helps to get some of the wrinkles and creases that may be in your fabric from sitting on the shelf for a while. Be sure that you wash your fabrics before doing any cutting so that any extra starch has been removed from them.
- Make sure that you dry your fabrics in the dryer. This will allow for any amount of shrinkage before you start cutting so that you know your blanket or project won't shrink after it has been washed.
- Square up your pieces of fabric. In order to do this, fold all your fabrics in half and match up the finished edges and cut off any of the jagged edges so that your fabric is now "squared."
- Line the cut of your fabric with any line of your cutting mat. This will help keep your fabrics in line as you are setting up your quilt design.
- Once you have set the first piece of fabric, you can start laying out a pattern and pinning your fabrics together. Use your cutting mat to keep your fabrics in line with the lines on the mat.