What fabrics to use for fabric painting?

How to wash and dry fabric without...?

• i bought fabric for home ec. and my teacher said to pre-shrink it so it doesnt stretch out...we're making pj pants. and i put it in the washer and the sides of it shredded and then once it was fully washed and dryed...it had fuzzies all over it. how do i wash and dry it without it getting shredded at the ends and getting A LOT of fuzzies all over it? i know i can just cut the shredded ends off, but i want it to where i dont have to do that. i know i can just take one of those things that get the fuzzies off, but that doesnt always work and the piece of fabric is 2 and 5 8ths...so its pretty big! this may help... my teacher said that washing and drying fabric before you use it makes it softer and easier to work with. one of the last 2 fabrics i washed and dryed was one hard and one soft already. but when i got done washing and drying the hard fabric, it was still hard and shredded at the ends but not fuzzy. the soft fabric just got shredded at the ends and got fuzzies all over it. the fabric im gonna wash and dry is kinda hard and its really cute so i dont want to ruin it so i have to spend more money to buy a new piece of it...its 2 and 5 8ths. how to gently wash and dry it?

• Answer:

  The ends are going to fray no matter what you do. Almost all fabric does that on the edges, which is why when you sew you must finish off your seams. If you washed the fabric all by itself and it still got fuzzies, then it is the material. Cheaper flannel ( I assume you got flannel because you are making jammies) can fuzz up. what fabric did you buy? And what do you mean by "hard". Was the fabric stiff?