It's definitely worth the sacrifice of a 2-3 strip on the crosswise grain(from selvage to selvage) to determine who it will behave in your project. I'd cut it 3" wide x 42" long (or whatever the width of your fabric is) and then cut that in half to 18" x 3".
Save one piece for comparison; wash one as you'd be washing a quilt in your home washer, on cool with a gentle detergent -- which Woolite is NOT, by the way!
Only after this step can you really decide how to continue.
And you'll still have half the cut strip to use if the washing doesn't work for you. If it does work, then cool, you can use all of it!
Jan in VA