Originally Posted by
chuckbere15
Washing the batting doesn't shrink the batting, it the heat of the dryer. If you don't want the crinkly effect, soak the batting in hot water, spin dry, and the place in dryer. I would not agitate the batting. In my experience, you can only tell if batting shrinks when the quilting is heavy and the top and backing haven't been pre-washed.
the quilts where I pre-washed the top and backing have very little evidence of batting shrinkages unless I stipple closely.
I pre-wash all fabric but not my batting. I quilt sparingly and use Warm & White/Warm & Natural. When I wash the finished quilt, I can definitely tell the batting has shrunk just a bit; between the quilting lines, the fabric is just a bit looser.