judithb

I hardly ever prewash. Got that from an instructor. The material is so much easier to use. Then it all shrinks a bit and it is soft and comfy!

quilttiludrop

As long as all your fabrics are 100% cotton, the shrinkage should be somewhat uniform. Poly-cotton blends do not shrink.

Betsydrew

Please do not wash the top without it being quilted into a sandwich. A woman I worked with did this when she was a newbie 4 years ago and it fell apart in the wash!!!!! If the back is just one piece of fabric, I'd wash it.

happyscrappy

i have never ever prewashed any fabrics i use in my quilting. i do prewash fabrics for clothing - always. remember to let your batting "breathe" out of the bag and opened up for 24 hours before sandwiching. if you don't want to wait, throw it in the dryer for about 30-40 minutes so it can relax.

jitkaau

If you haven't washed the top yet, I would wait until you have finished the quilt. If there is a little shrinkage, at least it will all be at the same time and should be fairly even. I don't wash anything until I am finished and there is minimal difference in the two stages as to the presentation of the quilt.

penski

i always wash all my fabric before it goes into my sewing room it is a good habit to get in to it takes any doubt out about shrinkage and clor bleeding

Annya

I also do it like that except I have a plastic box in which I put all the unwashed fabric until I can get enough to wash it. I have only tank water so have to be careful with it.

Annz

I prefer to wash all my fabric. For you I would definately wash the back and hope for the best with the top. You could always spray bottle wet the top and let it dry to see what would happen.

Farm Quilter

Wash your backing and iron it before you quilt. When you wash your completed quilt, use a color catcher just in case some of the colors on your top bleed. Nothing like red, black or turquoise bleeding onto white or a light fabric to ruin your quilt. It is best to wash your quilt in the bathtub because agitating the quilt in a top loading washing machine can make your quilt a wonky shape. Gently squeeze the water out, don't wring it! It is best if you can sandwich the quilt flat between 2 sheets out on the lawn to dry as hanging will really stress the quilting and seams because a wet quilt is heavy!

I always wash and iron my fabrics before I cut anything to make a quilt. I want to get rid of the chemicals used on them to keep the bugs off in the warehouses. I have read in some quilting magazines that the fabric manufacturing companies are putting more chemicals in the fabrics now because the fabric is staying on the shelves longer.

postal packin' mama

Quoted below is my posting from May 07, 2010 re:108" wide cotton backing shrinkage: just a note of caution FYI.

I bought 108" wide fabric for king size quilt backing at JoAnn Fabrics. It's 100% cotton so preshrunk it in hot water wash & dryer. Well, its width went from 108" to 92" -- 16" shrinkage in width! Called the JoAnn store & clerk told me "It should've 'only' shrunk 8 inches"! If I'd been advised of that before I bought it, I'd have selected a poly/cotton blend instead. I'd bought an extra 3/4 yard, thank goodness, so ended up having to cut the excess length off & turn it crosswise grain and sew onto the sides to get enough width. Then I washed it again, in hot water, and dried it again to be sure it's done all the shrinking it's going to do, hopefully!