Preparing the Fabric

So after staring at all this yellow fabric for a few days, I figured I must do something with it!  And by something, I mean something other than arrange, rearrange, fold, stare, spread, arrange, jumble, fold, organise, stand back and stare, arrange, rearrange, and then arrange again.  Does anyone else do that?  My partner, Mr. Molli Sparkles, thought I was cray-cray, and more interested in fondling my fabric than actually using it.  Oh, I had to prove him wrong!

So after doing a bit of searching, I discovered there was heated debate on the interwebs over “to wash” or “not to wash” the fabric before cutting.  Did this little heart of mine need anymore indecision?  In the end I called Grandma Sparkles back in Oklahoma and said, “What do I do?!”  She then bitch slapped me through the phone–as she’s prone to do–and said, “Wash.”  Well, and that, as they say, was that.

At her additional advice, I hand washed, using mild, warm water with the tiniest bit of fabric detergent.  There wasn’t even enough to create suds, just enough to wash it out.  I also made sure to wash light to dark so as not to contaminate the water and inadvertently dye the other fabrics.  It felt like I was finally making progress. Granted, that progress, was mainly sweatshop type of progress, but sometimes Molli has to take matters into her own hands, literally!  

My next immediate learn was that after fabric is washed, it gets wrinkled!  I had heard about the love affairs some of you blog aficionados had with your irons, and this was definitely the beginning of our burgeoning romance.

Next up: squaring up my fat quarters…