Caring for Your New Fabrics

If you don't recognize flea market fabric finds or fabrics you've been given as gifts, look along the selvage for the manufacturer's name, the designer's name and the fiber content. If there's no printing, and you aren't sure if the fabrics are all-cotton, do a burn test to help determine what type of fibers you're dealing with (you'll need to know later, so that you can properly care for the quilt made from them). While you're at it, go ahead and perform a bleed test on vivid fabrics that you suspect might not be colorfast.