wash and dry the quilt you just finished; before you give it to the recipient?
Elaine

I do. Just incase for some reason a seam comes apart or there's color issues. (I learned that from experience...ouch! haha)

It depends on who it is for. Children...yes, me...no.

Yes, I wash all quilts before giving them to the recipients. I like the look of a washed quilt, you know how it looks and feels so soft.

As soon as I put that last stitch in the binding, mine go in the washer. Then in the dryer on low!

Yup! Always.

I do.

definitely into the washer.

if it's for a child, it goes into warm water and the dryer, too - on high.

and adult's quilt gets a cold bath then either hung or dryer, depending on size, how it's intended to be used, or my mood that day. (a very scientific system. :lol: )

If you have used any type of starch product, it's a must to wash. Silverfish love these products, so you have to get them out.

I wash and dry which is a good thing since one of my seams came out after that and needed to be fixed. :x

Always wash with a color catcher (just in case) and I always give a Color catcher with the quilt for its first washing...Can you tell I'm a "better safe than sorry" type of gal?

I've never washed any quilt except ragged flannels.

Thanks for all your replys. The quilt I am just "FINISHING " up now has a little bit of kitty hair and lint on it , I wanted to freshen it up . It is for a charity benefit auction. (I hope it doesn't fall apart ).
And another one I am working on has a spot of , grease , I think. It must have come off my machine when I keep turning it to do the quilting . I hope I can get that out , it is on white fabric.
Thanks again for all your help. And pics coming soon!
Elaine

Depending on who it's going to, I'll wash it. If I'm not sure, I'll give it a wash. My cats LOVE to give them all some "personal love" before they head out the door. Sometimes, they give too much and some has to be washed out. lol
I'm always afraid at times that someone allergic will get one of my quilts, so that's one of the reasons I will wash.
ALL baby quilts get washed regardless..........

all utility quilts get washed and art quilts never get washed.

Just curious, why different water temps for children & adults?

I wash mine, too

By this time, it's been handled a lot. And my cat has also checked it out.

Dito with bearisgrey. I have cats also and they love quilts and sewing rooms.

I toss it in the dryer with a large wet towel and a dryer sheet. Unless it has been laying around for a while or the cats got on it....then it's off to the wash. I just prefer the crisp look of an unwashed quilt for gift-giving.

always wash them first

I wash all my quilts before giving them away. The only two I didn't get to wash were my son's. As soon as they came off the machine he ran them up to his room. He loves the quilts I made for him.

It depends...
Though I usually wash and dry it.
Just to check seams and to give it that "puffy/home" look
K

I usually wash them all to get rid of the cat fur, etc.

I just finished handquilting two queen size quilts. The first one is a raffle quilt and the second was for the sweet old lady at the senior center who donated three of her hand pieced and appliqued quilts to the center for their fund raising raffles. I washed both of them to get the markings out that I used in the quilting process. I then threw them in my dryer. I ended up pressing the old lady's quilt from the back as it wasn't quite dry and I wanted to make sure it didn't mildew. I didn't want to overdry it. Both of them came out beautifully.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who needs to get rid of cat fur. I can't keep them off the quilts while I'm working on them. My sis always tells people her afghans have a little cat fur worked in for good luck. :D :D :D :D

And then after washing it, do you block off the quilt so that it is square again? Does your quilt come out square after washing it?

my quilts turn out fine after washing - but I wash the fabrics before cutting them and the quilt was fairly "true" before I washed it. I've learned to let the fabric do what it wants to once it's been washed.

maybe some of the antique ones need to be reshaped -

Purple Passion--Try a little shampoo on the grease spot or Dawn dishwashing liquid. Both remove grease from hair or dishes. As always pretest for colorfastness first. Good luck

Depends on its level of squareness before it got tossed in the washer. :lol: I have never had a quilt distort.

Me too, for the same reasons. More to see if any of the seam come apart. :oops:

I'm a manic pre and post washer. I too worry about loose threads or a mis sewn seam. I am so glad I'm not alone in the "fur" department. I read a quilting magazine a couple of years ago and someone had an advert in for quilting services, in large print it said ALL WORK DONE IN SMOKE AND PET FREE ENVIRONMENT. I understand that people would like things to be fresh and clean when paying good money, but I did feel it kind of took the human and homely aspect out of the quilting process.

When I signed on to Operation 1161, the QUilts of Valor guidelines were what we decided to follow.
Because every one of those quilts go to wounded warriors, usually in a hospital setting, some even before they get stateside, there are so many unknowns of condition that it is necessary that they be as clean as possible.
So ... I figured, I will do it for them, but then I will go back to not washing.
However, since I have read the replies above, I have decided that from now on, I will be washing all of my quilts.
I have a DDIL that is deathly allergic to cats. My cat doesn't get on the quilt, but she gets sick just being in a room where a cat has been.
I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
Thank you for asking the question ... I am one convert to ALWAYS washing quilts upon completion ... I do not, however, foresee a time that I will be pre-washing my fabrics.

Because I have a cat- and because I handle the cat - when I wash my quilt I wash my hands before taking it out of the dryer - fold it away from my body - and put it in a big plastic bag right away.

Hopefully, that would minimize allergic reactions.

Never thought of giving a Color Catcher with a gift quilt. Excellent idea! I always include a page of 'how to hang' and 'how to care for' instructions with my quilts. Sometimes the instruction is 'Wall Hanging - please don't wash - because some of the fabrics won't make it through the washer!' But I try to make most of them so they can be used, even though I usually put on a hanging sleeve. Some people just refuse to USE a quilt 'because it's too pretty to use', even though I want the quilts I make to be used! At least with a hanging sleeve, there's a chance that they'll put it on a wall where they can SEE it!

So far, I've only made 3 bed quilts and I didn't even think to wash before giving them to my daughters. Luckily, in all their years of washing them, the only thing that happened was that my handsewing of labels wore out. Since Klue gave the tip to machine sew my labels onto the sleeve when I make it, that won't happen again. Mostly what I've made are wallhangings, pillows, and small framed landscapes and those I still don't plan to wash. But, from now on, I will wash the comfy blanket quilts. After the baby wallhanging and my daughter's 30th BD wallhanging are done, I will resume the lapquilt for me and the lapquilt I started for my mom. Those, I will wash. Thanks for bringing this up, I simply never thought to wash a gift.

I am new to thsi do you wash the WHOLE quilt or just the top?

I think most of us are talking about washing the quilt after it's done - meaning after it's been quilted and the binding put on.

Just washing the top is to be avoided if possible - because of threads raveling, seams coming apart at the edges - occasionally it has to be done - one of my cats anointed something I was working on - I noticed it when I was pressing it - wretched creature - thought I had it out of his reach -

I soaked it in the tub, let it drain as much as possible, and draped it on a drying rack. Then had to press it again. The piece edges are frayed looking now - I had to resew a few of the edge pieces.

Thanks, Bearspray!

I haven't been able to handquilt for several years, so all of my quilts are machine quilted. I feel that they CAN stand up to machine washing and drying better than handquilted quilts, so I include washing and drying instructions when I give them as gifts. When I give wall hangings that have fabrics that should NOT be washed, I say so in the message that goes with the quilt.

I NEVER make gift quilts larger than lap size (except for DD's & DS's families), so home machines are fine. I've only made bed sized quilts for family, and I've explained to them about using bathtubs to wash their quilts and about being very careful about pushing the water out (instead of lifting and wringing), rinsing and having 4 hands (or more!) to lift the wet quilt out of the tub. I've had good luck with commercial washers, cold water and Orvus quilt soap - then I use the commercial dryer. They are larger than home machines, so they accomodate bed-size - even queen-size quilts - so I've told both my DD and DDIL about using them.

I wash all the fabrics BEFORE I make a child's quilt especially. For wall hangings or art quilts, i do not wash because I really like the crispness and color of the original fabric. I only dust wall hangings, never wash.