If it were my quilt I would have it dry cleaned. Just a thought.
Lucy

The color cathchers. I have had great luck with them. The lady that told me about them said she did not prewash her fabric and so when she finished a quilt she washed it first with one or two color catchers. She said she never had a problem. I am back to prewashing after the thread that talked about the dyes and chemicals in the new fabric. I fold the fabric to store it and when I am ready to use it, I iron it with startch.

The quilt is beautiful. I would be affraid to wash it without doing a spot check on the sashing with cold water and a clean white wash cloth to see if the color will run. It it doesn't then I would use a gentle detergent with cold water in a gentle cycle but I would also stay at the machine during the 1st cycle incase you see bleeding and need to immediately remove the quilt. A suggestion is to always prewash your material with like colors or on their own if you think they may run that way you will know ahead of time if it will have color runs after the quilt is made and washed.

So beautiful! Great job! I agree with all who said cold water and color catchers with mild detergent.

I would REALLY discourage using Oxyclean on this quilt. It can ruin colors especially pinks and purples. It would also be using too much "fire power" if there are no stains you dont need the big guns. I agree that you should find some scraps and put them in a bowl of cold water with a small amount of Woolite (sp?) one at a time and see how they react. If there is no change in the water color especially with the darker colors the purple/fusche, it will be okay.if there is try the color catcher and see what it does. I've never used them so I don't know how good they work. It is usually best, if your quilt is going to be used, to wash all the fabric once with a very small amount of detergent and no fabric softner. Then you know it will be ok. Good luck.

Professional cleaners

beautiful quilt

Your first quilt!! Oh my, You did a fantaastic job. I think you'll make it big in the quilting world! Its a knockout!

absolutely beautiful

what are colorcatchers though - me being an aussie

I was told many years ago to not ask any dry cleaning business to dry clean a hand-made cotton based quilt. Some will not do it, I was told. Why would use of chemicals be preferred over gentle washing, following instructions given by many quilters in this forum. Our mothers and grandmothers washed theirs!