I have a family quilt that The Textile Museum at Colonial Williamsburg dated as ca. 1780 or before. It was made of linen that is from flax grown, spun, and woven on the plantation in Hanover County, Virginia, and it is combined with cotton chintz fabrics.
I don't know if this quilt was ever washed, I certainly did not do so when it came into my care when it was already more than 200 years old in 1989. The chintz is 'rusting' in many places from the iron mordant 'set' for the dyes, but the linen is in great shape.
It is my intention to remake this quilt "someday and I'll be using linen and cotton to do so.
Jan in VA