Tips for Pre-Washing Fabric?

[Manwariel]

When you pre-wash fabric (plain 100% cotton in this case) and want to do it several times to soften the fabric, do you dry it every time?

[I. Stewart]

I always prewash wool.  I want it to shrink and full as much as possible before I use it.

[Auryn]

Great thread.
Thanks to the help of a lovely woman at my favorite JoAnn's I learned to prewash fabric last year.
Here is my dillemma.
Everyone here washes in hot water and throws it in the dryer.
my question is, do you do that to the finished garment or your regular clothes also??

I ask because even just my regular everyday clothes, I was in the cold/cold cycle and I always hang them up to dry.
The only things that get sent to the dryer are towels, bed sheets, table cloths and socks.

I've washed my garb several times now the same way I wash my regular clothes and haven't suffered any shrinkage yet- granted ive used all cottons or synthetics.

I'm trying to figure out if I should be washing in hot water and sending it to the dryer even if I will never do that to the finished garment.

[Kate XXXXXX]

Here in the UK most garment fabric is sold 'needle ready' - that is ready to sew as it is.  So I usually only pre-wash if it is dusty or dirty from adverse storage (and then I want to have bought it REALLY cheap!).  However, I ALWAYS pre-wash linen, and I wash and dry it as I want to treat the finished garment.  If the garment is white, that usually means a hot wash and tumble dry.

I will wash cotton curtain fabric that I want to use for garments.  For some reason, curtain fabric is never pre-shrunk, so it's always a good idea to wash and dry that as you want to treat the completed outfit.

Other than that, I usually only wash fabric I'm going to dye.

[LadyShadow]

I always wash my fabric in hot water and then dry.  But my finished peices I was in cold water and still throw in the dryer, but on a gentler setting.