You will get plenty of responses, for and against. I personally wash mine prior to gift giving to make sure that all hand oils and dust are off the quilt before it goes to the receipant. I have cats and dogs and although they don't lay around on my fabrics or works in progress, their hair and dander are always floating around in the air. I also wash my fabrics prior to using them due to allergies and the chemicals used in processing the fabrics make my hands itch something terrible. I sew my binding on by hand and I like the way washing it hides any imperfections that there may be in my stitching. I do give it a good steam to get out the big wrinkles but I like the wrinkly look after it is washed.