Thread: How do I dry batting after pre-shrinking?

I would not bother to even put it in the tub. I would just fill the washing machine with warm or maybe hot water and let it soak. (My machine has a handwash cycle so I would use its rinse cycle but if you don't have that, just let it soak in the tub with no agitation.) Then drain and do a second soak if desired. This saves having to move the wet batting. Then use a slower spin cycle if possible to get out most of the water. Then dry in the dryer as suggested above.

Thank you all so much for the advice I will try a smaller peice to begin with and see how it works out. I knew I could get great help from everyone, I will let you know how it all works out.

This is batting I bought about 15 years ago and have just kept moving it around my sewing room and lost the instructions in the process all I could remember of the directions was to put it in a bath tub with a sheet under it to suport it. I have bought a pre cut about 2 years ago and it was pre-shrunk. I really need to use what I have in this economy LOL Again Thanks to all for your help

I'd cut it down to the sizes you normally use. 15 yards of anything is a lot of fabric for a washer or dryer. And warm and natural is wide too.
I always rinsed my warm and natural and then dried in the dryer, makes it lovely to hand quilt.
Not sure I'd do it for machine quilting at my level, might need that shrinkage to cover booboos~

I cut the W&N to about 10" larger each way than I need it when I am ready for it and then I shrink it. I have a front loader and I just use the water temp the finished quilt will be washed at and run it through the rinse cycle. I then dry it in the dryer, fluffing it frequently. It always comes out nice and I don't have the extra shrinking (as long as everyone follows the directions for washing.

You can soak it in the washing machine until it is saturated and then spin out the water, but do NOT allow the machine to agitate the batting! Machine agitation is really hard on a batting. While Warm and Natural might survive it, a lot of battings will not. The only agitation you would do is to press down with your hands. So add water, stop the machine, allow to soak, then advance the control knob to spin cycle. It's okay to dry in the dryer after excess water has been spun out.

Edit: Oh, and you mentioned 10 yards of batting. I would cut it down to quilt-size pieces and do them individually. I wouldn't try to do 10 yards at one time!

Oh, and I should add that Warm and Natural is needlepunched through scrim. That makes it very sturdy and is one reason why it won't fall apart if you pre-wash it. Some battings cannot be submerged in water at all because they will fall apart.

I would like to echo Prism99's reply and add that I have washed W&N batting in a front loader on the "hand washables" setting, spun and then dried on a lower setting and had no problems. If you are set on washing all 10 yards at a time, then maybe consider going to a laundromat which has larger front loading washers which will accommodate larger loads such as comforters and bedspreads. Let us all know how things go!

Originally Posted by Prism99

You can soak it in the washing machine until it is saturated and then spin out the water, but do NOT allow the machine to agitate the batting! Machine agitation is really hard on a batting. While Warm and Natural might survive it, a lot of battings will not. The only agitation you would do is to press down with your hands. So add water, stop the machine, allow to soak, then advance the control knob to spin cycle. It's okay to dry in the dryer after excess water has been spun out.

Edit: Oh, and you mentioned 10 yards of batting. I would cut it down to quilt-size pieces and do them individually. I wouldn't try to do 10 yards at one time!

Oh, and I should add that Warm and Natural is needlepunched through scrim. That makes it very sturdy and is one reason why it won't fall apart if you pre-wash it. Some battings cannot be submerged in water at all because they will fall apart.

I have put W & N in the dryer with no problem, got it off of a bolt at joanns they cut is, and it was filthy so in to the wash it went on gentle, in the dryer, and came out like new