Serge the cut ends of your fabric yardage before
sending it through the washing machine.
If you don't have a serger, you can always use your regular machine to make a zigzag stitch over the edge.
Though in a pinch, you could also seal the edges with fray check, or simply trim them with pinking shears. I have personally not had amazing results with the pinking, and fray checking everything seems pretty expensive to me, but I do know people who swear by both methods.
Just think. No more trying to untangle the crazy mess that comes out of the washer or dryer!
No more giant fiber knots as big as your hand! Plus, it also helps to reduce the "stretched out" feeling
some fabrics get when the threads intertwine and pull on each other. I'm not gonna lie. Once I figured
this out, I really felt like an idiot. again. This keeps happening far too often.
Do you know any other ways to defeat the dreaded fray?
Or do you just toss it all in and fight it out later?
Let me know if there is something I might have forgotten. again. ;)
I buy a lot of remnants, and am given a lot of scraps by sewy friends. If I threw those into the machine to preshrink I'd have to throw out some of the skinnier WOF strips as they would be too tangled to be saved! I zigzag everything before it gets washed - it does take a bit of time, but I don't have to spend hours untangling, so it's worth it :D
ReplyDeleteD'oh! I have no idea why I don't do this......
ReplyDeleteNo longer will I need to fight the tangles and as a bonus I get to 'sew' my new fabric straight away! Thanks for sharing this! Jessica
ReplyDeleteI put remnants in individual mesh laundry bags (3 for $1 at Dollar Tree) and larger pieces of material go in alone on the gentle cycle. Seems to work most of the time, but I'll remember this for large frayable (is that a word) pieces. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point! I put smaller things like fat quarters in those kinds of bags, but maybe I should have just thought to use the gentle cycle. :D
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