This topic is driving me nuts. I came out on the side of the pre-washers. Pre-washed everything, cut the miserable threads, dealt with out of shape fabric. Sized it back into submission. Had to wash twice AFTER I finished to get the starchy slightly sticky feeling out of the material (or it could have been too many drier sheets? unclear). Now this quilt looks used, puckery (80-20 low-loft 2% shrinkage batting) plus of course the material wrinkles up, and I think the thread shrunk too. Looks lovely in its way, but a little worn.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/compose...picnum=114776#
So I read the recent posts, light dawns, and I am ready to go on the side of no pre-washing.
Then I hear this about fabric shrinking INCHES!
Anything that shrinks more than 1 1/4" over 42" is in my opinion too much shrinkage. At that rate (3%) an 8" block will end up being about 7 3/4". With cotton batting which shrinks about 3% too, seems to work ok. And cotton thread shrinks too.
Either way, it gets puckered up. I guess if you use quality fabric you can control shrinkage. And if you pre-wash it needs to be consistent for all the fabric, and the batting will have to take care of itself.
There, I've let off some steam. Too bad, I could have used it to straighten out the pre-washed fabric!
:-) :roll: