thank you everyone for your replies to by question.
just thought i would let you know what i did.
i put my fabric in a zippered pillow protecter case.
in one there was a 5m., 1.5m., and 1m. pieces. in the other there was 1m. and 2m. pieces.
this was 2 seperate loads.
the fabric did not tangle and did not ravel very much, although i did snip a small triangle off of each corner.
i started drying them still in the case, but then took them out to finish drying. the 5m. piece did tangle a bit, but not too bad.
i dried them to the perma-press setting.
i then ironed them dry.
i know i will wash future fabric this way.
ps. next time i will rotary cut to straighten and then snip off the small triangle.
hope this helps others.