This is what I heard a long time ago: When you wash and dry your quilts in a regular washing machine and dryer, you age your quilts 10 years. She washed it every week. Cotton doesn't take the washing as well as polyester, so this doesn't surprise me. When you wash a quilt you should do it in your bathtub, no twisting, and hang it over 4 clothes lines to dry out of the sun. The detergent you use needs to be mild and not too much. I know someone is going to be mad at me for my comment. I had a girlfriend who got a beautiful star quilt made by a wonderful native american, it was tied, not quilted, and she washed it every week. The 1/4 inch seams couldn't take it either and it fell apart. My friend was blaming the lady who made it but really it was washing it all the time, so I looked it up about the care of a quilt and that washing and drying it in regular machines is the worst thing you can do to a quilt.