thanks for the great info. I am taking a class right now (6 months with a project every month) and last month I was behind and just bought fabric and didn't wash it before I sewed my project. Now I have unwashed scrapes. The big pieces of fabric I'll wash so they're in the same condition as all the other stuff in the stash.
But I have several extra unwashed strips and bits and pieces from the project that are kinda small. I'm too cheap to throw out anything that looks usable but I was afraid to mix them in with the washed fabric. I was trying to figure out how to "shrink" them without destroying them so they would match the rest.
So now another lesson learned: no matter how busy you are, find time to wash your fabric if you've decided to be a quilter who washer all her fabric! LOL!! :-)