New quilt for a gift--to wash or not to wash?
 

I'm getting the binding on Stepping Stones now and am debating whether to wash it before I give it to my daughter's boyfriend for Christmas. All the fabric was washed before it was made...and I have very clean hands whenever I worked on it. I know my quilter was careful too. I feel a quilt never looks quite the same after it's been washed... but not in a bad way. I always wash baby blankets and I washed a quilt I gave to a friend because I used basting spray.

But I kind of don't want to wash this one. Maybe I could toss it in the dryer to get all the threads off?
I'll tell him to bring it to me when it needs washing and I'll use my color wash sheets when I do.

What do you do?

I always wash quilts before I give them away. That way somebody doesn't think they've ruined the quilt when it comes out of the dryer looking different than it did when they put it in the washer.

not only do i wash them, i 'block' them, just like knitting. wash the quilt, stake out on carpet with pins going thru to the carpet layer. measure and make sure the corners are pinned square and the sides are straight. they will stay this way after drying. then, spritz with clear water on any wrinkles that the spin cycle would leave. leave till bone dry before moving and it will look great when you unpin and fold. also, be sure to put a bit of info about washing and drying on an included tag so they are comfortable washing.

Ditto that! I always pre-wash my fabric, but I don't pre-wash my batting (I mostly use W&N 100% cotton). I couldn't believe how much different the quilt looked after I washed it. I was almost tempted to iron it again :)

I just made a batch of quilts and washed them, even tho I always wash the fabric before I make something, I did it anyway for my peace of mind. In case something went wrong in the wash I can fix it before giving!

I always wash before gifting, first to make sure any pet hairs or anything are washed away, but also to make sure nothing "bad" happens. For instance, if a fabric dye is going to run I want it to run on ME, not on the recipient.

Washing will also bring to light weak seams that fray. Good to fix also

You could send color wash sheets with the present if you think he'll remember to use them!

How do you fix frayed seams? I have a quilt that my mil made that has a seam that came open because of the fabric fraying.

I pull the fabric together so it overlaps and then stitch--If I have machine stitched/quilted, then I just use a zig-zag or decorative stitch. I've had to fix mostly flannel quilts for the kids. They do not care if their seams get sewn twice or if they don't look like they did new. For a fancier quilt, I would use tiny blind stitches to repair the seam.