I figure that if you mark on the quilt the pattern you are going to quilt on it then you would have to wash it to remove those markings. I have in the past wash my quilts before given them out but that was over 20 years ago and I was using polyester batting which is horrible. Now I am using nice lovely cotton batting, which I know will be so much better. I love the idea from several of you on here about being able to check for our mistakes after we wash it. Never thought of that...thanks for the heads up. I hand quilt so I am not sure about those who have it done by machine if they wash or not.