I wash my quilts by letting them soak in warm water and any detergent in the machine, agitate a few minutes, let it spin and fill with rinse water and rinse and spin as usual. I dry them on low turning them several times, I lay them overnite on my glass topped dining room table. I use polyester batting and none of my fabrics have ever dyed on each other, no matter how dark, I mainly use Wal Mart fabrics. I wash all my quilts when I finish them. The ones we use I only wash before changing to another one. I only put them away clean. Don't wash too often. This works great for me. Merry Christmas !!!