Regarding the breathing issue, I recently attended some workshops given by Jamie Wallen. He noticed a few years back that there seemed to be a lot more dust in the air when he ripped fabric for quilt backings. He contacted fabric manufacturers to ask about this and found out that the expected shelf life of fabric has risen in recent years from an average of 3 months (before the market collapse) to 3 years currently. Because the fabric needs to stay looking good for a much longer period of time now, manufacturers are now treating the fabric with 3 to 10 times the amounts of chemicals and binders as they used to. Jamie still does not prewash fabric he uses in his quilts, but he now requires everyone who works with him to wear a face mask when ripping fabric.