I'am so upset - I made a beautiful king size quilt from batiks and now I find that the fabric shrinks up a half ince when washed I took a class and before we started I ask the instructor if I should wash the fab first and she said no because the way batiks are maded they don"t need to be prewashed. She was so wrong. I'll prewash next time no matter what the inst. says. I hpoe she didn't tell me that just because she wanted to fill her class. Has anyone had this happen. verrry dissapointed. I'am not a fan of krinkled quilts.

it may have been your batting that shrunk, what type did you use?

hm, the batiks I have used thus far have barely shrunk at all. Was rather disappointed, i wanted the krinkled look. Maybe it was the brand? I have been using Lil'miss.

Cotton shrinks. It's the nature of the beast. Also the batting will play a big part in shrinkage. Many people aim for the crinkled look so don't care or even want the shrinkage. I always prewash not for shrinkage per se, but for bleeding. But, if you want a flat quilt, definitely prewash and probably stay away from cotton batting.

if this fabric is a true batik it would not shrink.

batiks go thru so much water during the processing of the design that the cotton has already shrunk.

the thing you need to do for a true batik is set the dyes with retayne because many ship out to stores with excess dyes still in the fabric.

so if your fabric is a true batik and not a printed design then its your batting and backing that has shrunk.

I made a queen quilt out of Batiks and it had a 12 inch hang over on each side but after washing it is barely a 6 inch hang over. They do shrink. I know it wasn't the batting because I used wool that had been washed several times before I used it.

Oh no! I'm so sorry this happened. I think it was probably the batting that shrunk, but I don't know. I hope things go better for you on your next quilt. Hugs!

I don't understand how a true batik could shrink. Batik has to go through a hot water bath to remove the wax that is used for the design.

Now I'm wondering if some batiks are made with a different process than traditional wax.

I was told with batiks to prewash as they will run the colors more then normal- I am presoaking a bunch now and believe it or not the one giving me the most fits is a blue :shock: Have to get some retayne :thumbup:

True batiks don't shrink, as has been mentioned, multiple hot water baths to remove the wax takes care of that. It could be the batting or the backing fabric that causes the krinkled look. Another factor is the percentage of shrinkage. The batik may have shrunk at at rate of say 5%, but the batting and or backing shrunk at a rate of 7% causing the backing to be a tad smaller that the top.