I always wash my quilts. Even the ones I give away. I figure that after I wallow them around for weeks or months, they probably need it. They been on the floor for pin basting, probably had a couple of dogs sleep on them and then all the starch I use, they need a good washing. Plus I like them to smell good.

I don't wash mine. I do wash the material before I use it though.

I do because they always manage to get dirty (and I have marking lines I want to wash out). The white one that I'm working on now.. I don't know how it got so dirty! I'm in a pet-free, food-and-drink-free room and I always wash my hands before I sit down. I've been very careful to make sure that this one hasn't touched the floor (I'm not always so careful!) but it will still have to be washed.

I don't wash my quilts because I like the look of the quilt after it comes back from the quilter and I get the binding done. I'll let the recepient of the quilt do the washing. I have worried about fabrics bleeding though so if I use a red I think I would be sure and prewash the fabric before I sewed it.

I do b/c I often mark my quilting designs and also to ensure that all my seams were properly secured before use and/or gifting.

Same here.

I figure that if you mark on the quilt the pattern you are going to quilt on it then you would have to wash it to remove those markings. I have in the past wash my quilts before given them out but that was over 20 years ago and I was using polyester batting which is horrible. Now I am using nice lovely cotton batting, which I know will be so much better. I love the idea from several of you on here about being able to check for our mistakes after we wash it. Never thought of that...thanks for the heads up. I hand quilt so I am not sure about those who have it done by machine if they wash or not.

i wash all my quilts when i finish . i want to see what is going to happen before i give them away

I make quilts for charity so I always wash those when they are done and then quickly stuff them into a plastic bag before my cat finds them. I swear that cat can find freshly washed quilts, even when I think I've put them in a safe place away from the cat.

Plus, I want to make sure my fabrics don't bleed-I make a lot of scrap quilts, with scraps from other people. I want to make sure all my seems are secure, "Yah, nothing is fraying" I was really bad when I first started quilting, that 1/4" seam was just a suggestion really so after it was washed I'd have half the seams fraying. I am much better now!

Me too, I alway wash my quilts.:)