Sewing Preparations

[chebe]

Can you guess what this is a photo of? It's what I've been doing the last few days. Preparation. There is a lot of preparation involved in sewing, and very little pay-off that can be photographed and talked about. When I was younger and tried to sew things without any real knowledge, my projects often ended in disaster. One thing I never did, out of sheer laziness, was pre-launder my fabric. Now I never skip it.

Lots of people have different ways of preparing their fabric, some more exotic, some more time-consuming. Mine is very ordinary. I don't pre-shrink, or pre-soak, so much as pre-launder. I check the fabric type, any washing instructions, and then guesstimate my heart out. The reasoning being if the fabric can't withstand my washing routine then I don't want to bother with it. Usually, but there are always exceptions.

It all starts with a pillow-case. Well, two, one for lights, one for darks. I separate out my fabrics, taking light-coloured cottons together, strong-coloured, dark-coloured, etc. I unfold them and place them in the pillow-case. Once about half full I sew the case shut. Take to the washing machine, usually throwing them in on a 40-degree, low spin, cycle. Although special fabrics have special requirements. Regular washing detergent, regular fabric softener. When washed I put them in the tumble-drier. Not until completely dry (I fear scorching the fibres), but until barely damp. Then I take them out, free them from the pillow-case, and fold gently in the hot-press to air until dry.

Then comes the manual part, ironing. In certain circumstances I don't hate ironing, in fact I kind of like it. The circumstances being admittedly hard to come across; an easy-to-iron fabric, a bright sunny day, and the ironing board set up in the kitchen with the doors open, while the radio plays. Then ironing can become kinda zen, an act of bringing order to creased chaos. We've an extra large ironing-board and a steam-iron, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Once ironed I fold the lengths of fabric carefully, wrong-sides out, and leave to air a little more, usually over night. Then, and only then, will they get near the sewing table. Which, as you've guessed, is the next step.

Comments

[altamira16]

Does putting them in a pillow case prevent them from getting tangled? I don't understand why you do that.

[chebe]

After washing some rather cheap satin I noticed it came out destroyed, covered with damage marks. Remembering the old net-bags for underwear and the trick of putting stockings in a pillow-case, figured I'd give it a go for all my even-slightly-delicate fabrics. And I have to say, the amount of damage has defintely been reduced. It probably stops tangling, but also just impact against the metal drum (which is also why I reduce the spin speed). Not necessary, but I find it helps.