I wash my projects in COOL water with regular Dawn dish detergent (no bleach or degreaser, etc.). I stress cool water because I have had threads bleed in warm water. I do not recommend washing a project that has been stitched on overdyed fabrics or stitched with overdyed threads because of the dye bleeding which would likely destroy your entire project. I always wash my projects even though I wash my hands regularly during my stitching sessions. Everyone's hands have natural oils that will transfer to your fabric. Even if your project does not appear soiled, these natural oils may show up as stains years later and is not something I would want to see after the amount of time and effort I invest in stitching and the exorbitant costs to subsequently frame. I feel it is worth the small effort of rinsing my projects with a small dab of Dawn detergent and then pressing it with the iron on a low to medium setting for stellar results and the assurance that I will not likely have the unpleasant surprise of an ugly stain popping up years later.

Great info, ibcatlovr001! What do you mean by overdyed fabric or thread and how do you know it is overdyed? Also, when you wash/iron the project, does the aida cloth tend to shrink a little and allow the thread to fill in some gaps where the cloth shows through?

I never use the specialty threads and fabrics myself but overdyed is the process that is used to dye the threads and there are many available out there- some of the fibers are Gentle Art, Threadworx, Caron Collection, Crescent Colors to name a few and which are sold here at Everything. I am not knowledgeable on these fibers, but I think just a few are said to be colorfast (won't or are not supposed to bleed) like Weeks and DMC color variations are not supposed to bleed, but I have not tried to wash a project that I have used the color variations on yet (but I have a small one that is near completion and I will try and rinse soon) and I have never used Weeks or any of the others. I think those that use these fibers may pre-wash them to deal with the bleeding issue, and the stitchers here that have used these fibers are probably much more knowledgeable about these.

As for the fabric gaps closing, I have not noticed this but since I use cool water, shrinking and/or pulling up is probably less likely. I think we would notice less fabric showing through if DMC had not reconfigured and thinned our floss to the consistency of sewing thread. See the recent post here about email to DMC.

I agree with catlover, to wash the finished pattern in cool water. I use a few drops of Ivory dishwashing liquid swirled around in cool water to wash my completed project. There are other stitchers on this "chat" that can recommend other cleaning products that they use.

I HAVE had an experience with a GREEN overdyed floss in one of my patterns that I did not pre-wash the floss before I used it (mistake # 1) and then I ironed over the floss (mistake # 2) and it bled onto the unstitched area. I had to soak that project - without scrubbing - for 3 days to get the dye out.

I believe Weeks has variegated flosses that do not bleed or have to be rinsed before using them.
I LOVE using fabric that is hand-dyed that you can find on this website, especially if you are NOT doing full coverage of a pattern, for example doing a sampler or a Halloween pattern where you want to the background to show.

what lbcatlover said and make sure you towel dry then iron from behind...if you iron from the front side you will flatten your stitches...I have been a stitching framer for many years and those oils from your hands do show up later...I have also found that if you wash with dawn and cold water there is very little if any bleeding from the hand dyes...I have also found if you iron your piece after it's dry ..do this with out any pressure..with steam from the front it will "pop" your stitches..I usually just hover the iron over the piece letting the steam only hit the project..then I let it dry flat..I have never had a return for stains

Definitely a good point about the ironing and I was not specific about that, but I always roll my wet piece flat into a fluffy towel (never wring it out) than take a thinner kitchen towel and put it over the back side of the piece and iron on a low to medium setting.

Bermuda are you able to prewash the hand dyed fabrics before stitching so you can do another rinse after you stitch to eliminate bleeding. I have always avoided these because I like to rinse my projects when I am finished but would like to know this info in case I ever get adventurous!

catlover,
I did NOT rinse or soak my hand-dyed (overdyed?) fabric before I started to stitch. I'm pretty sure that the overdyed fabric I used from Picture This Plus stated it would not bleed. You might want to ask some of the other stitchers how they handled their hand-dyed fabric.
If I dig the project out of my "completed" stash tomorrow, I'll stick a non-stitched corner of the fabric in some cool water with a little Ivory liquid and see what happens. Will let you know.

CATLOVER,
Hi, it's me again. I just went over to the Picture This Plus website and went to their FAQ and there was a question about whether PTP fabric bleeds and they stated no because of the process they use. Check it out at PTP website and look for FAQ in the left hand column if you want to read the whole answer. One thing I would keep in mind is they say to rinse your completed project in cold water but do NOT allow it to soak.... hope this helps!
I used the PTP "Earthen" fabric on the "Rede Sampler" by The Sisterhood because I didn't like the fabric OR the floss (black 310) suggested for the project. Changed the floss to five different DMC colors for the project and it turned out decent.

Thanks for the info Bermuda, and I will go to the PTP website as you suggested to take a look at their fabrics and FAQ.

I am the odd ball out. I wash all my Aida fabric in my washing machine before I even start my projects to make it softer and more manageable. After my project is done I wash it in my washing machine on gentle with Purex and then hang it on pants hangers to air dry. When I get ready to frame it I press a piece of thin fusible interfacing on the back to protect the stitches. this has worked for me for over 30 years.