The batting is not the only factor when dealing with shrinking. The fabrics and cotton thread can often shrink some too. You can preshrink your batting if you want to go through the process but your cotton fabrics might still shrink just as much. When I’m making a quilt I really don’t want to shrink much I read the packages and choose one that states a minimum amount of shrinkage or none and make sure I’ve prewashed my fabrics with hot water too. It’s the whole * package * that determines the outcome. I’ve been quilting for something like 44 years, I’ve never preshrunk a batting.

NZ, I'm stumped by your quilt. I've sent our 3 or 4 quilts to be longarmed and they use Hobbs 80/20. I haven't had that much wrinkling that yours shows.
I love the look though but that isn't what you're asking!

If I am gifting a quilt, I will press it after washing it. That seems to work for me and comes out quite nice.

NZquilter, just an off the wall question- did you wash and dry your fabrics before cutting and making your blocks?

I usually pre shrink any cotton type batting. I don't wash it, I let the dyer do the work. I spray it with water until damp and dry on hot. No stretching or hassle with a heavy mess of wet batting.

I agree with CKcowl that the fabric and thread can also impact shrinkage. You will get a lot of crinkle if you don't prewash/preshrink your fabric too. Also, I have found that custom quilting can sometimes tame the shrinkage wrinkling, provided it is dense enough. Like SITD around all the applique and quilting within the applique as well. Dense background quilting helps. E2E designs always seem to pucker more for me. Here is an example of what I am talking about. In this all flannel quilt, all the fabrics were prewashed in hot water and dried on high heat. The batting, which is wool, was not prewashed. But I quilted densely in the background cream areas. You can see where the quilting is more open is where I got the most pucker, inside the deer applique, the windows in the house. I washed the quilt to remove my marks and let it tumble in a low heat dryer until it was just damp then let it air dry flat.
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Below is a link to Sue Garman's blog where she talks about preshrinking her batting and she does it with every batting, even poly. I don't preshrink battings. For show quilts I do a final wash in cold water and then block the quilt dry and have never noticed any puckering.

For quilts being gifted, I usually include a note or explain in person that the quilt has been washed after completion to remove any glue, starch, and any soiling that may have happened during construction. It is completely safe for the recipient to machine wash and dry and it won't change the appearance. I have read many sad tales of people who gifted a quilt and the first time the recipient washed it thought they had ruined the quilt and hid it away for fear the maker would see it in its post wash puckered state. I would prefer the giftee know what the quilt is going to look like after it is washed and dried and want to gift a clean quilt.


http://suegarman.blogspot.com/2013/03/

Edited to add, your quilt is super cute! I don't think the puckering/wrinkling is bad at all. Yes it is obvious but IMHO does not detract from the cute quilt.

Yes I did. I think that's why the shrinkage looks more obvious. Funny enough, I didn't wash my backing and the back of the quilt looks much more like I was expecting: a nice crinkle.

This sounds like the easiest way to pre-shrink! Thanks! I will try this for my next quilt.

Thank you all for your help! I am okay with the shrinkage on this quilt because I know my daughters don't care, but I'll be making a huge quilt for my DH's Aunt for Christmas. I was planning on doing some simple "custom" quilting and don't want shrinkage like this to happen on it. I have a huge roll of this Pellon batting too!

I also like a smoother look. I believe the surest way to get that is to prewash all the fabric and use poly batting (which does not shrink). Hobbs Polydown is so wonderful and quilts beautifully. And Quilter's Dream Puff is really warm and gives a puffier look, if you like that.

If I don't want the crinkle look for a show quilt, I don't wash it but iron it completely smooth and flat. Front and back.

Yes, I've ironed things that come out of the wash too wrinkly. But that's not a good system for things you have to wash often. I have a set of place mats like that--it's a pain.