Clean a quilt top??
 

a few years ago, I made my 1st quilt top out of some old shirts. about 3 months later, a tree fell on my house and everything had to be moved out. Some stuff was stored at my dad's and at my sister's and at my (then) boyfriend's house. I had forgotten all about that quilt top!
The other day, Mom told me she would help me get my stuff out of my sister's house and she and my husband got several rubbermaid tubs and brought them to my house and I finally went through them today and found the forgotten top!!! It is stinky and dirty now, so what should I do about that? Is it ok to wash?

I also found another quilt top in the same condition.. is it ok to wash it? The one I made is big squares, but the other one I have has some tiny squares in it. I cannot work on either one of them the way they are now, I think they have urine on them.

I would try a soak in Oxy Clean, then was on delicate.

A friend recently told me to wash a similar problem in oxiclean by hand in the bathtub of cool water. Let it soak for a while and then rinse with cool water. Depending on how bad it is you may have to repeat. You can dry it between two sheets on the lawn if the weather is nice. It is best not to hang it to dry.
It worked for me.

Just be gentle with it, don't put it in the washing machine. I'm afraid you would end up in a frayed mess.

I had a top in a similar state & that's what I did. It worked fine.

Thanks for asking this question. A friend just gave me a quilt top she found in a thrft store that's in about the same condition you described.

Thanks for the suggestion. Today is "cleaning day" so after I get the tub shiny (LOL), I'll soak it. I don't have any oxyclean, so I'll try some peroxide instead.

STOP!!!!! I hope you are kidding...won't peroxide fade (bleach) it?!?

Peroxide and oxyclean are the same basic thing. Oxyclean has detergent added and is a powder. I use it in laundry a lot and I've never noticed a bleaching out.

Since this quilt is not an OLD quilt, you can wash it in any laundry detergent you plan to use to wash it once it is finished. Just do as the others said and wash it in the bath tub.