I'm getting ready to start selling quilts and need some advice from y'all. I've been washing the pieces and drying them in my dryer. they pucker up. This is ok on the more traditional styles, but it just doesn't look right on the more contempory ones.

What can I do to reduce the puckering? I tried dry cleaning; that helped a little. Am I pulling my quilting stitches too tight? The backing is unbleached muslin..it shrinks, but in a 48x48 quilt, that only comes out as 1.5 inches across the 48" width...it has to be more than that.

Do you folks iron your quilts when you're finished? This is driving me nuts. Thanks for any help y'all can offer

Are you pre-washing the muslin in hot water? Is the batting cotton - that will shrink ome too.

are you prewashing everything? Are you using cotton batts and soaking/drying them to preshrink? I'm not a fan of the puckery look, especially for wall quilts. You can iron them if you use cotton batting. I have ironed the ones with poly batting, but I don't know how good it is for the batt!

After you wash your quilt try blocking the it and letting it air dry.
I remember seeing a show where they pinned the quilt to the floor to block it. They were trying to square it up. I'm not sure what else to use to block a quilt. Hmm. Maybe just damp dry it in the dryer first and then block it.
It's worth a try.