After my father passed away, each of the kids chose their favorite pendelton shirt and my neice made a beautiful memory bear for each of us. I got the rest of the shirts and because I'm also into felting, I washed them in hot hot water and dried them in the drier. No dice. Even tho the labels said dry clean only, they didn't felt (shrink) at all. These were purchased in the 50's - 80's. So go ahead, wash & dry them and use them in a quilt. When I repurpose items of clothing I don't bother to rip the seams. I just cut them out.