Preparing Cloths for First Use?

[DanielCoffey]

I would like to pick your brains about preparing new cheesecloth and butter muslin for first use.

Obviously machine washing will be required to remove lint and any contamination before that first use but what about the edges? Assuming I have bought cloths that were sold off a roll and cut to length, do you advise anything such as folding or a zigzag stitch to prevent fraying?

If an edge treatment is used, do you think the type of thread (cotton vs poly) is of any importance since the cloth might be exposed to high temperature when sanitising?

Do you prefer flat cloths or is the trend these days towards cloth bags as I see these sold a fair bit?

[pickles]

Wilko supply a polyester 'straining bag' [in the wine and beer section] not cheap at £8 but I reckon it is worth the money. Quite strong, I use it for straining yoghurt so it would do for cheese curds also. It is a decent size and mine is still working well after a few years.
I use another wilko product for sanitising, its 'Wilko Oxi Plus Stain Remover 1kg' costs £2.00 for a kilo. It contains a strong peroxide bleach and is fragrance free. It comes in for brew sanitising as well as cheese making, is food friendly and goes a long way.

I do use muslin as well, though what I use has cut edges. I won't be attempting to seam the edges and if the cloth gets too raggy in my opinion it is time to replace it with fresh.

I suppose my motto is 'have fun', make and enjoy cheese, sourdough, beer you made yourself.
BTW I got over the sourdough temperature thing by setting up a brew fridge at 25°C when I want to make bread. In my opinion 20-21°C is not warm enough.

I'm sure others will share their working method. I don't by any means have any sort of monoploy on 'best ways' to do this activity. I am only a hobbyist and although cost is a factor I don't view my pastime from a commercial stand point.

[Bantams]

I just soak/hand wash mine in chlorinated dairy detergent and then sanitize in bleach solution.
Several other commercial dairies that I've worked for use a (dedicated) washing machine (add bleach) and dryer.
The nice tight weave doesn't tend to produce stray strands - I wouldn't stress about it.