I never wash any of my fabrics anymore but I do starch them. I use a dishpan with my home-made starch mixture, soak them, then run them thru my home-made wringer gadget to get the excess wrung out. This eliminates all that fraying a washer would cause them. Then I either hang them up to dry or lay them flat on a towel. I've done this to 5", 10" and jelly rolls. Once dry I mist them and then press them flat. Very little stretching out of shape doing it this way. I also no longer buy pre-cuts as I've found them to be not cut correctly or on an angle of the fabric which causes too many headaches to handle. I'd rather cut from my stash these days.

As far as I can determine, a small piece of fabric has the same characteristics as the bolt of fabric it was cut from.

If the large piece will shrink, bleed, whatever - so will the small piece.

Oh my! I sure learned a lot from your responses! Thanks!

I don't wash anything and have never ruined a quilt. I would especially not wash pre-cuts. When the quilt is finished it goes in the wash with a color catcher or two. That's it.