I would never wash fabric in a kit.

I wouldn't wash kit fabrics. As long as you quilt reasonably close together, the fabrics won't shrink that much once they are in the quilt.

I took a class from Harriet Hargrave once, and she brought a *flannel* quilt to prove this. She had not prewashed the flannel, but had machine quilted normally. The quilt was fine. Her point was that quilting stabilizes the quilt sandwich, preventing unwashed fabrics from shrinking overly much.

Now, a tied quilt would be a completely different story. There would be nothing to stop the fabric from shrinking.

I agree with Prism99 I buy and use kits all the time I love them and I never prewash but when I wash the quilt I do not agitate just soak in cool water with a very mild soap then sin the water out same with the rinse and dry on very mlow heat and should be no trouble in fact I know people who never prewash and use cotton batting then all shrinks together to give it an antique look

interesting thread, thanks