Before Mrs. Poteet set us free to run down to the garment district to buy our fabric and supplies, she told us that we need to preshrink the wool, rayon lining, interfacing, edge tape, weft, etc.
Confession: I knew I needed to pretreat fabrics I intended to wash at home but I never realized that I needed to preshrink stuff I’d be sending to the cleaners. I also didn’t realize I needed to preshrink all of the notions, too. Oops.
And that is why I’m taking this class….
According to our book Tailoring…
Although some fabrics are labeled “needle-ready,” it is a good idea to preshrink them anyway. In general, preshrinking loosely woven fabrics and those made of natural fibers is especially critical because they are more likely to shrink when you press them (emphasis added by me) than tightly woven fabrics and those made of synthetics or synthetic blends.
If you plan to use fusible interfacings, preshrinking the garment fabric is particularly important. Because fusing requires more steam pressing than normal, the garment fabric is likely to shrink during fusing.
The Dry Cleaning Method: The easiest and most expensive method is to take the fabric for steaming to the cleaners. She told us that we had to specify that we didn’t want it pressed, just steamed. And that we want it folded, not hung, after the steaming. It would cost us about $5 per fabric.
Steam Pressing Do It Yourself: She told us to lay the fabric out on a large surfaces, such as our bed, and to hold our very steamy iron over the surface of the fabric. Then, working section by section, move the iron over the fabric without touching it.
London Method: Mrs. Poteet doesn’t like this method so she didn’t tell us about it. (See Carolyn’s link, below, for a summary of the London Method).
Prepping the Other Stuff: Fill a clean sink or tub with hot tap water. Unfold the notion and submerge it in the water. Let the water come to room temperature and then drain. Put the notion in a colander and let the water drain from it a bit more (about 5 minutes). Roll up in a bath towel to remove excess moisture and then hang over a towel bar to dry. Do not pretreat fusibles in the washer and dryer unless you want the resin/glue to be stuck to the inside of the appliance and the interfacing be all balled up and unusable. It melts, people. That’s why it is called fusible.
I decided to do the dry cleaning method to preshrink the wool and rayon. I’m a little nervous about it because the girl didn’t write down my instructions and she was the only one there when I dropped it off on Sunday. Naturally, they are closed today for the holiday but I plan on calling first thing Tuesday morning just to make sure my instructions will be followed. And, oh. It cost me $13 per fabric because she marked them as tablecloths. Because it is a large dry cleaners, I’m hoping that the guys in the back doing the pressing are old hands at preshrinking fabric for sewers.
I wish I had known about Pamela Erny’s tutorial on preshrinking wool before I took my fabric to the cleaners. It looks like a piece of cake and I intend to use it from now on! And, remember how I told you the other day that Carolyn got me hooked on wool crepe? She has a tutorial on how to pretreat crepe that is well worth the read since she knows crepe inside, outside, and upside down! Finally, Gertie has a blog posting on prewashing a variety of fabrics.
Soooo, here are some photos from when I pretreated the weft and the edge tape:
Fill a sink with hot tap water
Unfold weft, interfacing, tape, etc. and submerse it in the water. The water is HOT! I ended up using a wooden spoon to press the weft into the water. Just let it soak. No need to agitate it.
When the water cools to room temperature, drain it out of the sink. Put the notions into a collander to continue draining. DO NOT WRING TO GET THE EXCESS WATER OUT.
After letting the notions drain for about 5 minutes, roll them in a towel to get the excess water out. Then hang over a towelbar or shower rod to dry.
My weft and my edge tape is in the bathroom hanging dry as we “speak.” I was surprised by how wet the weft still was even after letting it drain for five minutes.
I was wondering…because the water was so hot, I wonder if I can just put the stuff into the sink first and then fill it up with hot water. I would think that would also eliminate the need to try and get rid of air bubbles.
So that was part of my homework for the tailored jacket. I can’t do anything more on it until I get pattern pieces on Wednesday to finish tracing them off. Oh, and I have to call the dry cleaners in the morning!
How about you? What is your favorite method of preshrinking wool?
Follow Me