Why Test Fabric Shrinkage?

You may recall that I began testing some new fabric for shrinkage. For fabrics that might shrink dramatically, I do this to make sure that (1) the completed garment won’t shrink when washed (or if I have to dry clean it instead), and (2) if I will have enough of the pre-treated fabric to sew the garment that I intend to sew. If I wash and dry a swatch of the fabric and the swatch shrinks dramatically, I will have to NOT pre-wash the fabric (otherwise I probably wouldn’t have enough of it) and dry clean the completed garment (so that it won’t shrink later).

I must admit, I don’t do this for all of the fabric that I plan to sew. I generally just go ahead and pre-wash and dry all cotton and linen fabrics (unless I want to maintain the finish of the unwashed linen) with out testing a swatch. That is because, after many years of sewing, I know that these fabrics tend to not shrink much. I simply purchase an extra 1/8th yard of fabric to allow for shrinkage, and pre-wash and dry the fabric as usual.

How I Test Fabric For Shrinkage

I began testing my fabric for shrinkage by tracing around a large swatch of the fabric, on a piece of paper (Step 1). Then, since this garment is to be washed on cold and hang-dried,  I put the swatch into a “delicates” bag, washed it on cold, and then laid it out flat to dry (Step 2).

I am now to Step 3, comparing the size of my washed and dried swatch to the traced outline. Here is how that looks.

Pre-washed Fabric

As you can see, the swatch is smaller than the outline that I traced last week. Thus, I know that this fabric shrank quite a bit. Now I am concerned that it might shrink even more if I continue to wash the fabric. Further, if I wash the entire cut, I might not have enough fabric to make the garment. AAAk!

To find out if the fabric will shrink even more, I am repeating steps 1 and 2. Below, you can see what the new outline of the swatch looks like compared to the original outline.

First And Second Outlines

If this swatch shrinks even more, I think I will go the dry cleaning route. I don’t want to, but I also want to make sure that I have enough fabric to make my blouse.