It Shrunk 5 inches
 

how do you avoid a new quilt from shrinking? i made a quilt for a friend using Baltic pre cuts, I pre washed all the other material like backing and borders and such but most of the quilt was made with pre-cuts. after i sewed it all, quilted and then washed it and dried it, it shrunk about 5 inches. i was VERY surprised at how much it shrunk.i had made it to fit a double bed 72X90 Did i do something Wrong?, should i have expected that and made it larger to accommodate for the shrinkage? any HELP for my future quilts is much appreciated

Thanks Patti

I assume you mean Batik. i searched and didn't find anything on that much shrinkage. Did you use hot water by any chance? and what batting?

yes i meant Batik, i used quilters dream Wool and it was washed in Cold.

The only time I have had anything shrink was when I did not pre wash. That is one reason why I always wash everything before I use it.

i'm with you, crafty pat

The biggest source of shrinkage in most quilts is from cotton batting. I don't use precuts and I do prewash all my fabric so I have a pretty good idea that all the shrinkage in my quilts is due to the batting. If you don't want any shrinkage polyester batting is probably your best bet. I always make my quilts oversize so they still fit the bed.

I have never prewashed any of my fabric and have had no problems. I use mostly precuts.

Batting can shrink a whole lot. Hobbs claims that their 100% cotton batting can be pre-shrunk. Just follow the directions on the bag.

I always pre-shrink Hobbs 80/20 and recently pre-shrunk a Hobbs wool batt. I pre-shrink all brands of 100% cotton batting. I shrink my fabrics too. After all of the work that I put in making the quilt, I don't want any surprises.

ditto .... washing and drying causes shrinkage, not just or the fabrics, but also your batting.