Originally Posted by Stacey
I have always prewashed my fabric. Then I use a lot of starch. And my quilts still get that old quilt look when washed.
That's because the batting shrinks.
On a different note, I want to point out that fabrics that are washed will likely shrink a lot more than fabrics that are not washed but heavily quilted into a quilt. Quilting stabilizes the fabric to the batting and backing. A fabric that would otherwise shrink more than the other fabrics in a quilt will only shrink as much as the quilting permits. That's why, for example, people like me who do not prewash fabrics don't see horrific amounts of shrinkage in finished quilts. I just adjust for shrinkage of the batting (about 3% in the all-cotton batting I use), as this is what will control shrinkage of the fabric.