Something about having to prewash fabric or trims makes me waaaay less motivated to start a project. Anybody else have that problem? I get most of my sewing goodies in the mail so I try to run everything through the wash as soon as I open the package and it mostly works. . . except for long pieces of trim and elastic.
Tossing 10 yards of FOE in the washer and dryer seemed like a terrible idea so I’ve been pretreating shorter pieces, one project’s worth at a time. It works, but it slows me down when I want to be sewing. Since I had a free afternoon today, I played around with some solutions for preventing tangling. I found one I like!
Here it is:
Step 1 -Loosely coil your FOE and overlap the two ends.
Step 2 – Join the loose ends together using a non-rusting safety pin, or some hand basting stitches.
Step 3 – Using some twine or spare ribbon, gently tie your FOE in at least two places (in retrospect three would be better) using a figure-8 loop and sturdy knot.
Confused about that figure-8 loop? Here’s a quick video:
Step 4 – Pop it all in a lingerie bag, zip the bag closed, and use your normal wash/dry cycles!
Your elastic may come out a bit crinkly, but it won’t be a tangled mess and a bit of steam from the iron will sort the wrinkles.