Well I guess I am a renegade......I do not wash my fab before piecing, do not use starch at all ever, either hand quilt or machine quilt-do not wash after completed...whether mine or as a gift........if before I cut into a fab at the beginning I suspect bleeding, I cut a small chunk and put it into a cup of HOT water, if it bleeds--I replace it. If I gift the quilt I will instruct to wash in cool water, on gentle and gentle dry....and a quilt need not be washed weekly---unless an accident.....my own get fluffed and refreshed weekly in dryer, and washed only once a year. I don't need to wash to make sure my seams are "holding" at the beginning, because I know they are sewed right. I have L/A a few where I have had to re-sew some seams - I relate that info to client---that I think makes me very conscious of my own piecing!