Imagine it, you’ve spent hours picking the perfect pattern for your new project, you’ve carefully selected the perfect fabrics at Two Chicks, and you’re ready to get started. The colors are vibrant, the prints are fun, and you can’t wait to see your vision come to life. But before you start slicing into your pretty fabrics into squares and triangles, you have one more thing to do; you need to pretreat your fabrics.
Why should you pretreat quilt fabric?
Not all fabrics react the same. Some shrink more, some are more fluid and wiggle when you cut them, and those variations can make it difficult for you to put your quilts together. By pretreating your fabrics before cutting and piecing them together, you’ll prevent any unpleasant surprises down the road. Nobody wants to wrestle a wonky quilt with puckers and pleats, right?
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “But won’t pretreating my fabrics take forever?” Not at all. Give your fabric a quick spritz with one of the Two Chicks’ fabric treatment picks, let it dry, then give it a quick press with an iron.
Two Chicks’ Picks for Fabric Pre-Treatment
Acorn Easy Press Fabric Treatment
The Acorn Easy Press Treatment does exactly what it says in the name; it makes it easy to create an accurate, flat seam every time you piece. When you pretreat with Acorn, it improves your cutting and sewing accuracy and adds a little volume to the fabric. The volume gives you more stability and also helps inhibit fraying on your pieces.
Terial Magic
Terial Magic is a spray-on stabilizer that gives your fabric paper-like qualities to make it easy to cut and stitch. Treated fabrics lay flat like paper and don’t fray. Imagine using it on a T-shirt quilt and not having to fight that stretch!
Magic Quilting and Crafting Spray
Our final Two Chicks’ Pick is the Magic Premium Quilting Crafting Spray. It’s fragrance and flake-free, and also will help eliminate odors on your fabrics. It keeps your seams flat and reduces wrinkles and works well with fabric adhesive spray and basting spray for quilting. We also really like that you can get refills in several sizes.
Let’s make a pact to make better quilts and never skip pretreating our fabrics again. It may seem like a small detail, but we know it’s the secret ingredient to quilting success. Stop by Two Chicks Quilting and find even more tips and tricks to make your perfect quilt. Your future self—and your finished quilts—will thank you for it!
