I saw your picture of the washed block in the other thread, but came here to see the whole quilt.

How are you planning on quilting it? If you do an all-over free motion pattern, I wouldn't worry about the shrinkage; the batting and quilting will stabilize it. It would likely cause problems if you want to just stitch in the ditch, though.

quiltlady, you need to realize that quilting binds the fabric to the batting, at which point the batting limits how much the fabric shrinks. The fabric in that one block you washed had not been stabilized by quilting to a batting. If you were to take another block, quilt it to batting and backing, and wash it, the brown fabric would not shrink like that. The batting would prevent it from shrinking so much.

You would not want to tie this quilt. Tying would not be enough to limit the brown fabric's shrinkage. When quilting, you also do not want to quilt lines 10" apart. That would give the shrinkable fabric too much space. As long as your quilting lines are a reasonable distance apart (say, 4" or closer) and you quilt through the sashings several times, your quilt will turn out fine.

The one thing I would suggest is probably not using a 100% polyester batting, as polyester does not shrink at all. Other battings shrink a little in the wash, which helps camouflage any uneven shrinkage of the fabric.

An all-over meander of quilting lines, with lines no farther apart than 4", would look nice and would ensure that all of the brown fabric is tied sufficiently to the batting.

Thanks everyone, this is making me sick! This is the first quilt that this has happened to me, Such a stupid mistake! I'm thinking of ripping, I thought if I ripped each row then just ripped out the brown and sew it back together, if it was for me I would say the heck with it and just quilt it, but seeing it is for someone else and they are paying for the fabric I feel bad if it is not perfect or as perfect as I can get it..

The quilt is laying on my bed and every time I go by it I cringe at my big mistake, and think next time you will know better oh well live and learn..Thank again for all of your support.......Carol..

PS

Now after reading some more post maybe I will try and quilt it really close. I'm doing FMQ.or like one of the ladies said I may try quilting a few books together and then wash and dry it and see what happens, I hate ripping!

I would quilt it as is & not rip anything out. My most recent baby quilt was like that....some fabric washed & some not & it looked just as good as a quilt that had all pre washed fabrics/and/or all non pre washed fabrics. I say finish it & be happy!

quiltlady, if you want to reassure yourself, quilt a single block and wash it. Just be sure to quilt all around the edges before washing. Compare to the unquilted washed block, and I think you will feel better moving forward without ripping.

I would do like the others said, go ahead and quilt it, it will be fine. I have done the same thing before with no problems. This is a child's quilt and will be washed many, many times and after a while the crinkles will all blend together.

Just take a deep breath and go for it. Seriously it will be all right. (())

OK, so my two cents worth on this....

One, it's going to a little boy, who will cuddle it, make forts with it, drag it around, pretend it's his Army tent, pretend the Dino's are going with him somewhere, and on and on. I can tell you, it's going to be seriously loved and used. He is NOT going to notice any minor shrinkage.

Two, as others have said, quilt it pretty densely, not just stitch-in-the-ditch. If you do pantos, I'm CERTAIN I've seen some dino pantos online somewhere. Those should give you the quilting you need, as well as giving the little guy even MORE dinos to look at. Between the slight shrink of the batting, and the panto quilting, the brown shrink should not be noticeable.

Three, this is one of those "live and learn" lessons. Me personally - I NEVER prewash, simply because I don't want to have to stress over something like just like this situation. (I can HEAR some of you gasping! :D ) I've never had any issues by doing this. Will this policy "bite" me someday? Probably, but I've been quilting since I was pregnant with my daughter (and she's 33 in July), and just never really had any problems with not prewashing.

Like I said, this is just my two cents worth... and that won't even buy a piece of bubblegum anymore. :p

I wouldn't worry about it. I don't prewash, unless the fabric is red. So, when I make quilts that have red in them, that fabric has already been washed. The rest hasn't. And I have never been able to tell when it is all quilted and bound.

It just all comes out even enough by the time the quilt is sandwiched and quilted. Or at least it always has for me.

I'd suggest that you just "carry on" and try to stop worrying about it. Your quilt is just beautiful, and the boy who gets it will love and treasure it. Good choice of pattern and fabric!!

Dina

Use color catchers when you wash it. Keep washing it with new color catchers are clean when washed. I think it will be just fine. I don't prewash any more.