[Jerney]

I have made a bunch of darling O&S clothes for my daughter, most of them in quilting cotton. I have found, though, that when these come out of the wash they really scrunch up into a VERY wrinkly mess. They absolutely have to be ironed, and this is challenging and takes a significant amount of time, so I find I don’t reach for them very often when I get my daughter dressed for school.

Maybe I should try a different fabric? Any suggestions? Does anyone else experience this?

[meleliza]

Yes, try a different fabric. Quilting cotton will definitely wrinkle a lot. Some manufacturers are better than others, though. Moda is softer and art gallery is finer, but yes it will wrinkle more than poplin, voile, lawn etc. those will wrinkle too, but I find I can live with it. Some of the quilting cottons are awful out of the dryer. If you pre wash, you’ll get a sense of what it will look like.

[brenda1652]

try washing the item several more times to soften it a bit more and use fabric softener in the final rinse. Just leave it next to the washer and toss it back in when you do the wash. Instead of tossing it into the dryer, shake it out good when it comes out of the wash, tug on the seams to straighten them out and then hang it on the clothes line (or over the shower curtain if no clothes line). A clothesline on a windy day takes most wrinkles out. I have found that the better (as in more expensive) cottons wrinkle less, for the most part. Also, don’t shy away from cotton/poly mixes, they will look nice with minimum effort. I know many want only natural fibers for clothing but for dress up and in terms of saving time, the poly mixes work well, and after all the work of making the item you want to see it used. There are also poly mixes out there in which the polyester comes from recycled items, so that would ease your conscience about using them. Also, make sure you pre-wash your fabrics before sewing, it will pre-shrink the cottons and give you a good idea about how the fabric will wrinkle. Again, you may need to prewash several times to soften it up, then dry and iron with a bit of starch to get it ready for construction. If it is too wrinkly save it for napkins or craft items instead of clothing.

[mcholley1]

Ease of care is always a huge part of my decision making since I generally make most of what my kids wear. I use lots of lawn, voile, seersucker, pique, and twill. I’m not sure if you are sewing in the US or somewhere else, but Joannes has a line of poly/cotton seersucker every summer that don’t wrinkle and are easy care.

I don’t use very much quilting cotton for my kids, but the one line I have used and am super pleased with is this one…

http://sarahjanestudios.com/blog/2011/05/introducing-children-at-play/

My kids have garments from these fabrics that have held up for going on three years. No fading and very few wrinkles after they have been washed a few times.

My system for most of my handmade dresses and such are hang to dry and very briefly use my iron and lots of steam to knock the major wrinkly bits before hanging in their closets. As long as their closets aren’t packed too tight the rest of the wrinkles fall out before they wear them several days later. Worse case they get a quick touch up before wearing.

If it is something I know I’ll be putting in the dryer and not ironing…I prewash it within an inch of its life (hot water/hot dryer/several times).

[Sarvi]

Within an inch of its life, haha! Funny, I was just looking at my kid this morning and by the time she got done squirming and playing and sitting in the car seat, she arrived at school looking like I had wadded her clothes into a knot and stuffed them in them in a tennis ball. These were beautifully crisp before she put them on — cotton and linen, but steamed, steamed, and very hot pressed. You could’ve opened letters with those pleats. I think wrinkles are just kind of a fact of life with little kids. The teachers still seem to kind of get a kick out of her pinafores and little blouses and pleated skirts. I think they see quite a *lot* of pink and purple (or red and blue for boys) licensed character knits and even wrinkled, O+S just is a different look.

[bren5kids]

I never dry mine or my girls’ 100% cotton dresses completely in the dryer. I put my washer on low spin speed for that load, then throw into the dryer for about 5 minutes or until it’s nicely warmed up but still damp, then take the items out one by one, give them a little shake and hang to dry. If it’s a nice day I put them on the line and they dry beautifully.

Also what previous posters have said about differences in fabric quality is so true. I really like Moda, and Oliver and S’ City Weekend is some of the nicest quilting cotton I have seen/used.

[Nicole]

75% of my washing requires ironing.

I use Bren’s method, dry on a coat hanger in a breeze.

My husband also installed a drop down clothes hanger (a friend in Ireland has exactly the same one) I hang clothes there when it is damp. As heat rises, they dry quite quickly.

I actually enjoy ironing, I would never get to watch telly otherwise.

A little poly content will help too.