Originally Posted by
busy fingers
As for washing the quilt I put it in my machine - which has a big wash bowl - with a couple of colour catchers and just put it on a very gentle cycle. I did not let it go to spin I took it out with the help of hubby and put in on the line where it was given a good hose down to remove any suds and being a windy hot day it was dry by late afternoon. The washing result I was very happy with - it came out looking just like new - no crinkles, no colour runs - I always pre-wash my fabrics to start with - or shrinkage. Just the ends came undone.
This is a top-loading washer? To safely wash a large quilt in a top-loader, it's important to not allow any machine agitation of the quilt. You want to stop the machine and hand agitate by pushing down on the quilt. When finished with that, advance the machine to the spin cycle.
I agree with BellaBoo. There is no reason to avoid the spin cycle in the washing machine; it is the agitation cycle that can do some damage. What can do even more damage is hanging a wet quilt on the line. This is because water is *heavy*. A soaking wet quilt will weigh a lot more than a dry quilt. Hanging a wet quilt puts excessive stress on all the quilting lines. This is probably what caused your knotted ends to come out.
Front loaders can be allowed to go full cycle although for large quilts I always use the large front-loader at the laundromat. Domestic front-loaders don't use enough water to dilute possible dye bleeds, so the laundromat front-loaders are safer for first washings.