After reading so many posts about pre-washing vs. not pre-washing, I decided to do a little test. I just picked up fabric for a quilt and the thought of pre-washing and pressing 4 yard pieces makes me tired just thinking about it.
So I prewashed and dried two sample pieces. Pre-measured and had one piece 19 x 46 and one 18.5 x 45. No color run from the navy to the white - score. but width wise both fabrics shrunk. The 19x46 now measures 19 x 43 (3 whole inches less) and the 18.5 by 45 - is 18.5x44 (kona cotton on this one). So both pieces shrunk on the width.