I have a book called "caring for your quilts" by Hallye Bone from the KS city star books. It is about conservation repair and storage and like others here have said..NEVER put a vintage quilt in a washing machine...the fabrics might look OK, but they are fragile and our water, detergents, etc will destroy them quickly. Hand washing/soaking with the proper soap in a tub is ok IF you must wash it...other than they suggest line hanging or laying flat in the sun(about an hour each side on the grass) and fresh air to naturally cleanse them, spot cleaning with oxyclean if needed, and leaving them alone for the most part. The state textile historian here told me to NOT wash lastest find that is about 117 years old...she said most of the fabrics were hand dyed with plant matter and washing would kill them. So...dirty quilt it is....I found it in a barn..heheheh