I always wash, one to be sure it doesn't have a seam somewhere that just wasn't sewn in correctly, and two because I have dogs, and I don't want any dog hairs to go along with the quilt. I do tell them I have washed it and used a color catcher, so if has a little color on the catcher, I tell them, and tell them to use the color catchers until it doesn't run. I don't usually have a big problem with colors running, but I would hate to spend all that time on them just to be ruined because of color running.