You wash your underwear when you buy them at the store before you use them. You wash your sheets, pillowcases before you put them on a bed, why would you not wash a finished quilt? I finish my quilt and take it to the laundromat and put it in the giant washer so it has room to schlupp around. Then depending on the weather - bad - dryer at the laundromat - good - hang out on the line outside and fluff it up in my dryer. But then I am one of those people who packs Lysol spray to spray on the bed at a motel. I would never give a gift, charity or otherwise, without it being clean (clean meaning finger clean, dog hair clean, cat hair clean and just the fact that I gave it clean. Edie