if you do choose to wash your batting, do not let it agitate AT ALL. just soak it in the tub of your top loader machine, laundry tub or bath.

I remember in my youth buying some of the most beautiful fabric and looked so long for the perfect pattern. I worked so hard on it and loved it when it was finished until I washed it. It shrunk so bad it was awful I was in tears. DM cut it up for quilting and I have always bought extra and washed it as soon as I get it home. Lesson learned the hard way.

I don't trust fabric to shrink equally in all directions, so that's part of why I pre-wash fabric. Plus there's a smell to fabric when I first bring it home - it must be the chemicals others have mentioned (though thankfully I don't seem to be sensitive to any of them).

Batting...I like the crinkle and so far I haven't noticed batting shrinking more in one direction than another, so I don't bother to pre-shrink. If it's something I don't want to crinkle I use poly batting. But usually I sort of depend on the crinkle to help distract from quilting boo-boos! ;-)

Me too!!!!

i never wash my batting- but always my fabrics. it removes sizing, oils, grim, smells (lots of people fondle bolts of fabric before you buy it)
if i have a bleeder i know right away- if i have a (sub-standard) fabric that frays or separates- i know; i just feel better about handling it once it's been laundered & is ready for what ever i want to do with it. I generally purchase bolts of batting- or packaged ones that have not been (fondled) by the general public before i get them- so i wait until the quilt if finished/quilted & bound- then launder the finished product- that's when my batting gets washed.

Quilters Dream battings have only minimal shrink. Only Dream Orient mentions a 3% shrink.

I wish I had pictures of the condition my hands and legs were in before my dermatologist and I figured out that the chemicals in fabric processing caused a severe flare up. I looked like a burn victim. I have a yet to be named autoimmune disorder that when exposed to those chemicals sent my immune system in overdrive. I have a special cream that I have to apply after fondling fabrics in a quilt or fabric store. I have an injection that I self administer twice a month and I have a large dose of steroids I take weekly. I will have to be on these medications the rest of my life. This is why I pre wash everything.

I prewash all my fabrics and then dry in the dryer without fabric softener because I make mainly baby quilts and don't want to cause any skin reactions. I also want to preshrink and prevent color migration.

I discovered that prewashing the batting not only shrank it a bit, but also made it thicker. I got a thicker quilt, but less crinkly, when I prewashed my cotton batting. So now I decide if I want a thicker, less crinkly quilt, or a thinner, very crinkly quilt? That determines if I prewash the batt or not. I always pre-wash the fabric, unless it's small pre-cuts, to get rid of the chemicals in it.

Thank you all for your comments. I will continue to prewash my fabric. I am so happy to be part of this board - so many wonderful people willing to share.