I have used minky on 5 quilts and love it...I do not wash my fabric and do not wash the minky before quilting it. My trick to prevent the cotton from shrinking is only washing the quilt in cold water and putting in dryer on delicate cycle until it is almost dry...I let it hand dry for the remainder. The minky shouldn't shrink no matter what b/c it is polyester, but my concern is making sure that the cotton top and batting don't shrink. I find that if you by the minky (or minkee) brand it is easy to work with, but if you get something like soft and cuddly, it can be difficult to work with when you sew the binding on....