Prepping Fabric

As I am getting reacquainted with my sewing machine, I am getting reacquainted with how to do things properly.  I learned to sew with my best friend and her mom, and then some more with my mom.  I made my prom gowns ( with lots of help from mom!) and now I make things here and there. With that said, it's been years since I really focused on finishing things properly. So, I thought why not work each week a little by little to properly work on a big project. Start to finish.

Now that I have these beautiful browns to work with...

I decided to do the "right" thing and prewash them first. Normally I don't but because I know I will most likely be using white with these, I did not want the brown to stain the white of the finished project!

Now, I say "right" because I believe pre-washing is up for debate. Some people have luck not pre-washing, others do not.  I decided not to chance it.

In an attempt to prevent a huge frayed mess in my top load washer
( I read front loaders don't eat fabric as bad! Jealous.)
I read that you should clip your corners. So I did.  I was skeptic, but it did help!
I will be definitely clipping all my fabric corners before throwing in the wash!

And here they are after being washed, prior to being dried.

Now, after being dried and ironed. And ready to cut up!

Next stop. Cutting.  Eek!
I'm always nervous cutting into fabric, I don't want to mess up!

Using my pattern as my guide, I had to cut four pieces of each fabric. Using my straight edge and rotary cutter, I went to work.

In no time at all I had this beautiful pile of crisp, clean fabric. 




Stop by next week, to see how I decided to assemble them!