I had a five inch square shrink one half inch in one direction. If that had been a 42 inch strip, it would have only been 37.8 inche after washing.
I have measured hundreds of pieces before and after washing them.
Some do not shrink at all. A very few have stretched. Most shrink some - usually more in one direction than the other.
I can not tell ahead of time what the fabrics will do.
I also had a stack of blocks that were about 10 x 10 before xoaking in hot water. Most of them shrank.
Some of the spendier lines had worse manners than some of the less costly ones.
Last edited by bearisgray; 01-10-2014 at 12:36 PM.