FAQ

Pre-Washing Fabrics: Do I need to pre-wash my fabrics? I get this question a lot, and the answer is, it depends...Some fabrics will shrink so you may want to shrink them so that they don't shrink after you sew with them. Some fabric do not shrink, but may be wrinkled from being folded or just from being in the shipping package, for the fabrics washing them can help to smooth them out so that you can be sure to cut them out without the wrinkles distorting the cut shape. In general you should pre-wash natural fabrics (hemp, bamboo, cotton) and consider washing each type by itself to reduce lint from some causing pilling on others. Do NOT pre-wash polyester fabrics (PUL, microfleece, microfiber) unless you want to. NEVER pre-wash Zorb!!! I will break the fabrics down and address each one:

• PUL laminated PUL fabric does not need to be pre-washed. The lamination process takes care of any pre-shrinking for you. That being said, a cotton PUL might bleed colors or the fabric might have fold-wrinkles that would make it easier to work with after it is washed. So pre-washing is fine and maybe desirable in some cases, but it is NOT necessary.
• Microfleece - No, microfleece will not shrink so does not need to be pre-washed. It is OK to pre-wash it though, just be sure NOT to wash it with natural fabrices ie hemp, bamboo or cotton because these fabrics may produce lint in their first wash which can contribute pilling to your sofr microfleece fabric.
• Microfiber -No, microfiber does NOT shrink, but some colors may bleed. So just to be safe I would leave the white alone but pre-wash the colors with a piece of light-colored cotton to see if there is any color transfer. Warning: There are some types of microfiber that will fall apart when washed. We do NOT have that kind of microfiber. It will not unravel or fall apart in the wash.
• Hemp Fabrics -Yes! Hemp fabrics will shrink up to 15% so plan ahead and make sure to order enough for your project. You can also use the shrinking in your favor and plan it into your patter so that you can wash after sewing. This is much easier but can take some experimentation to figure out. This is how I make my inserts, I serge two layers together (make sure the layers have the knit running the same way or you will get weird puckering when the layers shrink in different directions!) and wash after sewing.
• Hemp Fleece -I am adding hemp fleece by itself just to emphasize that it produces a LOT of lint both in the wash and in the dryer. I once clogged up my washing machine when I trid to wash 10 yards at once. It was too mych for my machine and I had to use a bucket to empty out the water. Luckily it recovered and I never washed more than 5 yards at once again.
• Colors -I just had a customer who's aqua OBV bled onto her natural color bamboo fleece, it was not something she was expecting nor was she happy about it. I did not not think that the OBV would bleed like that, and it wasn't a very dark color, so if she had asked me I probably would have assured her that it was fine to wash them together. In general for natural fabrics I think it is best to wash both like-colors together and like-fabrics together. There could be pilling issues from a fleece onto a french terry or flannel. It is perfectly OK to wash it all together, just be aware that there could be issues.
• OBV -Organic bamboo velour. Please read the above about OBV - the colors can sometimes bleed. I don't think this fabric shrinks, but others have told me that it does. I personally do not pre-wash OBV because 1) it does not shrink very much if at all and 2) the edges roll like crazy and make it hard to work with. So with OBV it is up to you. Probably best to er on the side of caution and pre-wash.
• Suedecloth -Nope, it doesnt' shrink and is polyester so shouldn't bleed color. Only wash if you want to get wrinkles or traveling dust out.
• Bamboo Fabrics -Yes, (see above about OBV). Be warned that the fleece fabrics may produce a LOT of lint that could cause pilling on other fabrics you are washing it with, so might be best to wash bamboo fleece, bamboo heavy fleece or bamboo/hemp fleece by themselves.
• Zorb -NO! Zorb must be sandwiched between other fabrics before being washed. This means that it should be in the middle of at least two other layers of fabric. It is not woven or knitted, the fibers are compressed together and may come apart if washed by itself. It is also a good idea, but not necessary, to add some quilting to items with Zorb in them. This will help to keep the Zorb in place and stable inside the item.

Shipping:How is shipping calculated? Can I get a less expensive shipping rate? etc: Shipping is calculated by the weight of your order and the shipping zone that you are in. I live in Southern Indiana, so the surrounding states are very quick to ship to and are the least expensive for you. Also I try to ship orders in the order that they are received. However, I can try to make exceptions, but can not guarantee this. I have 6 kids and do not check my emails 24/7. Please note that we only ship to the US and Canada at this time.

Continuous Yardage: I will make every attept to give you continuous yardage for orders over 3 yards. Sometimes I miscalculate the available fabrics or there is a big hole in the middle of a roll and I can not give you continuous yardage. If this comes up with your order I will contact you to see if this is a problem. And I always give a little extra fabric because I realize that a non-continuous piece of fabric may lower the number of pattern pieces that you can cut.

FOE, Elastic & Touchtape issues: I try to keep your orders continuous but these items arrive to me in pieces. I used to save up all the odd bits of pieces and save them waiting for the perfect order for them to and scraps everywhere. This was crazy. It comes to me not continuous so I have no choice but to send it to you that way. BUT I will send you extra if I have to send you your elastic or touchtape in sections instead of one piece. For elastics I will send an extra half yard for each "break" in your order and for touchtape I will send an extra 10" for Loop and extra 5" for Hook. These quantities are usually sufficient to make up for it not being continuous.