kathy

I bought 3.5 yds of 118" backing fabric, it was crammed into a small box so rather than iron I washed. As soon as it came out of the dryer I put it on my frame so it would be stretched and not wrinkled, when I went to load the top which I knew was 108" the were the same size! Well fabric.com can't take it back because I washed it but did give me 10$ credit but now I wonder , is it possible that it shrunk THAT much? I guess I'll try again and not wash because I don't want it pieced.
I have to add that the girl did offer to send me enough to piece it to fit at no charge and last week I ordered some 1yd pieces, one had a "Jackpot, you got the end of the bolt" sticker, I measured it and it was 3.5 inches longer, no big deal but another one was 17" longer!
I guess from now on if it's important I will measure before I do anything else.
NEW TEST RESULTS
I bought another 3.5 yds of the same fabric different color, ( I really didn't care for the rust color after seeing it in person) it measured exactly 118", I cut off 10 inches, washed and dried, it measured 110"! it wasn't quite dry yet so I guess it really can shrink 10" in the width, the length was barely noticeable! So.... since most of my top hasn't been washed nor has my cotton batting, I'm going to quilt it and cross my fingers when I put it in the wash and hope it all goes at pretty much the same rate...... we shall see.