when you wash the FINISHED quilt be sure and use a color-catcher sheet also, batik's do tend to bleed a bit (sometimes) so be prepared, but it would be a hastle to try to wash the strips ahead of time. i used a couple bali-pops in a quilt, (and boy, they were expensive, i didn't find a deal) and when i washed the quilt it looks as if 1 of them ran...only 1 and only a little but enough to (stain) my cream colored back...so now i have purchased a box of color catchers (in the laundry department with the bounce sheets) and am ready to try to fix the problem :( i did not have any issues with shrinkage though. i think with good quality batik's you really don't get the shrinkage problem because they are washed so many times in hot water during the dying process, removing the wax.