Fabric Care

 

Fabric Care Guidelines

You've bought that much loved fabric, now let's make sure it's well taken care of.

As the majority of our fabrics are deadstock they come to us without Fibre content or care instructions. We make our best educated determination of fibre content and recommend the below care instructions as a general guide.

We recommend pre washing all fabrics that will be washed once sewn up. Follow the general guidelines below, or feel free to get in touch if you have any specific queries. We stock some amazingly unique fabrics that don't always fit into a specific box.

Black, white and bold colours should be pre washed separately to avoid any colour bleeding on first wash. A pre wash can be as simple as a swish in the laundry tub with cold water to remove any sizing and pre shrink your fabrics prior to cutting. High contrast prints with bold colours should be hung to dry immediately after wash. Bold colours such as red, black, blue and green can be prone to bleeding when wet.

A good rule of thumb is to pre wash in the way you intend to wash your garment once made. Making a silk shirt you're going to hand wash? do the same with your fabric prior to cutting. Making some pants for work that will get tossed in the machine and dryer? do the same to your fabric prior to cutting. This allows for any shrinkage that may occur prior to cutting. Also keep in mind that fabrics containing spandex will usually shrink on first wash, so it'e best to pre wash these. 

Fabric care

Cotton : cold machine wash, can be tumble dried on a low setting. Iron on a high heat or the cotton setting on your iron. Cotton, or cotton blends should always be pre washed to avoid shrinkage after making

Linen : cold machine wash, can be tumble dried on a low setting. Iron on a high heat or the linen setting on your iron. Stem iron works best to get rid of creases.

Silk : dry clean or hand wash with silk wash at your own risk. We recommend pre washing prior to cutting if you intend to wash your garment once sewn. Iron on a low heat or the silk setting on your iron.

Wool : dry clean or hand wash using wool wash at your own risk. We recommend pre washing prior to cutting if you intend to wash your garment once sewn.

Viscose : cold machine wash, do not tumble dry. Viscose fibres shrink when wet, then expand once dry. Tumble drying will permanently shrink the fibres, and therefore your fabric. Viscose responds well to a warm iron with steam.

Polyester:  cold machine wash, can be tumble dried, re recommend testing prior to cutting. Iron on a low heat.

Knits/Jersey : can be tumble dried on a low setting. Cold machine wash, Iron on a warm heat. Always pre wash your knits for shrinkage

Trims: We recommend pre washing all trims I cold water for shrinkage and colour fastness. Test how your trim washes before applying it to your make.