I use the "free" detergents because I can't stand when things smell perfumey. Sometimes odors like that give me headaches, which may be why I don't like them, I'm not sure. "New car smell" gives me headaches and makes me feel sick, so you can imagine what fun I am at parties.

I wash all my quilts before I give them out as gifts cause I use starch on all my fabrics as well as Elmer's Glue during my assembling so want all that out of it before they get it. Plus this way if its going to bleed, I can hopefully fix it with a color catcher so it doesn't scare them half to death when they go to wash it.

Can one iron/press/block a washed quilt to look "store-bought-new"?

You can but once washed, my quilts have a crinkly look which I love. Some people who but don't want that look.

[QUOTE=meyert;8006446]huh... well I just wash it like anything else. I do use fabric softener and I have even had comments about how much the love the smell. never thought about that.. just figured they can wash it before they use it if they wish[/QUOTE
I do the same. i figure if it's for a baby the parents will rewash it in dreft anyway.

I think this comes from people used to seeing commercial comforters and "uncrinkled" quilts in stores. Chances are these buyers are not only not quilters themselves, but also come from non-quilting families. They have probably never seen a "real" handmade quilt made by family members.

When I was in Lancaster, PA and visited some of the Amish quilt stores, I noticed that their quilts for sale all had the "unwashed" look.

To keep an "unwashed" look (even if you wash), I think it helps enormously to use polyester batting. It provides the lofty look of comforters that so many people equate with quilts, but does not shrink at all in the wash (unlike cotton). An alternative would be to pre-wash cotton batting so it does not shrink in the wash. The batting typically controls how much crinkling you get, assuming your quilting lines are reasonably close together -- 4" or less. Batting is stronger than fabrics, so a batting that does not shrink will stop fabrics from shrinking in a quilt, even though the same fabrics would shrink if washed by themselves.

If people don't want that look, maybe they'd be happier with another type of bedcover.

Yes, that is true. Some of my earlier quilts had polyester batting and after washing, they still had a 'new' look.

Because I use water-soluble thread for basting, and usually a water-soluble embroidery stabilizer with my quilting pattern traced on to it, I have to wash the quilt to get rid of them. My detergent is blue Dawn dishwashing detergent - mild, no scent, and a color-catcher in and of itself.

Scent free detergent and no fabric softener. I am 'sensitive' to fragrance chemicals. It's not allergy according to my allergist, but it feels the same and is treated the same as allergies. Go figure.