Quilt shrinkage
 

I really do like to "puffy" antique look of quilts; however, my last quilt has to much of a puffy look. Is there any way to "unshrink" the quilt so that it has a smoother appearance. Thanks for any advise.

you could try blocking it. Wet it, pin it down then let it dry. If it's really shrunk, however, I don't know if this will actually help.

I think if you add more quilting to it, that will control some of the puffiness.

What batting did you use? How far apart were your quilting lines? Both of these will affect the 'puffiness' of a quilt. I am not sure what you can do after the fact to change this - except more quilting.

I prewash all of my fabrics and make sure the sandwich is taunt and have no puffiness to it. I do a large FMQ, mandering on almost all my quilts. I almost always use a high loft poly batting. Gives me the look I like.

Welcome from outside St. Louis, MO.

It's not likely you can "un-shrink" it with out doing damage to either the top ,batting, backing, or quilting/piecing thread/ materials. Cotton fibers are at their weakest when wet. Forcing these fibers , could tear at the fibers. The damage may not be apparent at first , but over time the fibers that sustained damage will have a shorter life.

Try ironing it. Assuming that you won't need to wash it often, that could be your answer and not too much work once in awhile.

Thank you for all suggestions. That gives me some ideas for improvement.