One of the first steps in the dressmaking process, after you have chosen and bought your fabric, is to pre-wash it. Pre-washing your fabric has three main aims.
1 – To avoid any shrinkage in the fabric after you have sewn your garment together.
2 – To remove any of the coatings or residues which are applied during the fabric manufacturing process.
3 – To get an accurate picture of what the fabric will look and feel like once your final garment is put through the washing machine. Sometimes the colour may change slightly after the first wash or the texture and drape may alter. So best to get that out of the way before you start sewing up your project.
This pre-wash can be done in several different ways depending on the nature of the fabric that you are using. The best way to decide how to pre-treat your fabric is to think about how you will clean the garment after its sewn together and has been worn. For example, if you are going to throw it in the washing machine, then pre-wash the fabric in the washing machine on the same settings. If you are going to hand wash it, then hand wash the fabric with a delicate hand washing solution. Sometimes when you buy a length of fabric it will come with a care label which tells you how to launder it. But if not, then the following list should be helpful:
COTTON – Cotton is known to shrink quite a bit so definitely needs a pre-wash to avoid your favourite dress coming out of the washing machine two sizes smaller! Sturdy cottons such as poplin, twill, canvas etc can just be thrown in the washing machine at the setting you would use to wash your clothes. For anything more delicate, like cotton lawn or voile consider handwashing it (although I have put these in the washing machine too in the past and not had any ill effects!).
JERSEY / KNITS – Knit fabric can shrink like crazy so definitely needs a pre-wash to get that shrinkage out of the way before you sew up your garment. Most of the time knits can go in the washing machine and you might even want to put it through twice to be on the safe side.
RAYON – Rayon can be a delicate fabric and so you should try and treat it as such and use a gentle, cool cycle on the washing machine or wash it by hand.
WOOL – Wool fabrics should not be put into the washing machine and instead the best way to treat them is to take them to your ironing board and give them a good steam. Hover the iron just over the fabric and use lots of steam all over the entire piece of fabric and then leave it to dry.
SILK – Silk is not known for shrinking much so you might decide to not pre-treat it at all. However, if you are planning to hand wash the garment once its constructed (as opposed to taking it to the dry cleaners), you might want to hand wash the fabric first to check the effect that water has on the silk fibres.
LINEN – Linen is another fabric known to shrink a lot so put it through the washing machine at least once before cutting into it.
SPECIALITY FABRICS – In this category, I’m talking about those kind of fabrics which you would need to dry-clean once your garment has been made up. For example, anything with sequins, lace, velvet, embroidered materials, luxurious brocades and jacquards etc. With these fabrics you don’t need to pre-treat them and can instead get straight into your sewing!
SYNTHETIC FIBERS – EG POLYESTER AND NYLON - these types of fabrics are unlikely to shrink so you may not need to pre-wash them for that purpose. Although you might want to give them a quick run through the machine so help rid them of any lose synthetic fibres
DRYING - For any of the above fabrics where you have washed them, whether that’s in the washing machine or by hand, you will obviously then need to dry it. My best advice is to place it somewhere where it can hang nice and straight and undisturbed. I usually hang my fabric over my bannisters on top of a clean towel. Wherever you place it, make sure that its not hanging over anything which has protruding edges otherwise the fabric is likely to stretch out in that shape and have a ‘bubble’ in that area when you come to use it.
PRESSING – the final step is to press the fabric once it has dried to get rid of any wrinkles which formed through the washing process. Take extra care here to make sure that your iron is set to the correct temperature for your fabric to avoid any burn holes! You could test a small corner first if you are unsure. Run the iron up and down the material, parallel to the selvedges to put it back into good shape following its wash.
Once that is done, then you are all ready to cut out your pattern pieces!
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