Originally Posted by Pat G
Thank you all so much for telling me why you wash or don't wash your finished quilts. You opened my eyes on sev. points. In the past it never occurred to me to wash a new quilt. It also never occurred to me to wash a finished one. I guess I would have been a little afraid to.
I enjoy your msgs. so much & I've learned from all of you.
Thank all of you.
Pat
When I was working, it would take me 2 - 4 years to complete a queen sized quilt. Since I'm a hand quilter who works without a hoop or frame, that's a lot of dragging around of the quilt during that time frame so there are 2 reasons why I wash a completed quilt before passing it on.
1. incase there is any color running, I can deal with it then and there and remove the color from where it shouldn't be and then the colors will be set for the recipient
2. it's fresh and clean and ready for them to use and enjoy.
I honestly feel that my quilts are more beautiful after washing them than before. I have no clue why I feel that way but I do. Recently we were told that if we are going to enter a quilt into our up coming quilt show, we are NOT to launder them first and two of us always launder our quilts as that's THE final stage of the quilting process for us. We've been told that if our quilts are good enough to place, laundering them could cost us that chance. I'm not entering my quilt. It will NOT live it's life in an unlaundered state and that's all there is to it. LOL.