I've got these quilts that I should freshen up, and would like to wash perhaps one of them. How do you wash your quilts and how often? Any special soaps or handling of the quilts?

I just throw mine in my front loader with Tide Total Care HE on warm and gentle cycle. Then I mostly dry it in the dryer and then let it come to thrown over a bed. Mine get used a lot by my son so they are washed at least once a month.

I wash mine on the gentle cycle in the washing machine and dry in the dryer. Mine get used a lot so they are washed often.

Front-loading washers are easier on quilts than top-loaders. If all you have is a top-loading washing machine, you can use that -- just don't let it agitate. It's the agitation that is hard on a quilt. Fill washer with water, add soap, stop the washer, add quilt, and *hand* agitate the quilt by pushing it up and down. When finished washing, move control to spin and spin out the wash water. Let fill with rinse water and again stop the machine before it has a chance to agitate. Hand agitate, then move control to spin to spin out the water.

If the quilt is large, be careful about drying it in a home dryer. If you have to pack it in tightly, you could end up actually burning the quilt and damaging the dryer.

Laundromats can be a good place to take a quilt -- front loading washing machines available and large dryers.

A washed quilt can be dried outside if you lay out a large flat sheet first, then the quilt, and then cover with another large sheet and anchor the edges down. Do *not* expose a quilt to sunlight. Light fades fabric quickly.

Some quilters like to use Orvus soap to wash their quilts. It is very gentle. Quilt shops have it, but it's much cheaper if you buy it in a place like Fleet Farm (used to wash horses). Any gentle soap is fine for an everyday quilt.

How old are they? what kind of material are they made of?

This is all going to change the way I would wash one.

However if I make a quilt out of "todays" fabric I put it in the washer with cold water and wash it with liquid detergent. Then I put it in the dryer on hot until its dry.

If its real cold outside I will just throw it in the dryer until its nice and warm and then crawl up on the couch!

I wash mine with small amount of Woolite Zero Extra Delicates (it's a
very mild soap with no phosphates) then in the dryer on low/medium heat.

I wash them in warm water and dry them on low heat with a mild detergent (the same one I use on my clothes). I wash them when I know they're dirty, or about once a year otherwise, just to freshen them up.

Same here. I intend my quilts to be used and washed often. Some of mine are washed monthly, some are not used much and don't get very dirty.

I have a large capacity washing machine so I wash my quilts in that. I do however use the delicate cycle and "Zero", a detergent for delicates. Then I put them through a second spin cycle on regular spin to get extra moisture out before shaking them out and putting them in the dryer. I take them out before they are bone dry and hang them over my quilt frame to dry.

And always in COLD water...