Laundering and Drying Quilts
There are so many circumstances that apply here. These directions are for quilts you are using… your kids are using…. Etc. These quilts are usually a sandwich of all cotton fabrics and the batting will be polyester or polyester and cotton mix or 100% cotton and the backing is suitable.Polyester fabrics will allow the batting to pill up on the outside of the fabric as well as the the polyester fabrics will pill on their own when used in these quilts.
There are quilts that should not be washed such as Family quilts that are about to fall apart or something that is Silk or unknown fibers should not be put in the laundry. Consult a textile person such as a quilt curator at a museum.
Before washing… check for heavily soiled areas. I deal with them with a stain remover… liquid or stick form is acceptable depending on the soil or stain.
I use quilt soap by Quilters Rule people. There are other quilt washes on the market. Use a soap that is especially for quilts. There are no phosphates to harm the fibers in these kinds of soap. Do not use Wool Lite.
Top loading:Fill with warm or cold not hot water. Dissolve liquid paste soap in small amount of water and add to filled washer. Set the washer on gentle. I fan fold the quilt the way it will fit around the agitator without being all bunched on one side and simply put the quilt in. Let it get totally wet. Start the washer and let it make about 6 to 10 "swishes". Stop the washer. Every 5 minutes allow the washer to make about 6 to 10 "swishes". Allow the quilt to soak for 10 to 15 minutes. Then let it drain and spin out. Rinse 2 times. Allow the washer to spin out each time. Then give it one more spin. The more water you remove now the easier it will be to dry it.
Put it in the dryer for about 10 minutes. Then hang to finish drying. I have a clothesline and put it there when the sun is not going to be on it for a length of time. I generally have a quilt folded over the line and will put pins at each end and one or two in the middle. Then about every hour or hour and a half, I change the position of the quilt. Do not leave it out for a whole day!
Front loading:Put the quilt in the washer. Add the dissolved quilt paste. Cut back on the amount you dissolve from one tablespoon to 1 teaspoon. Let it run. Do the second rinse and check in to see that there are not any suds on the second rinse. If there are… do it again with out soap! It might be to your advantage to run it through the entire cycle without any soap. That would be 2 more rinses!
Soap Residue will collect Dirt! Rinsing is as important as washing!
I hope this information will be helpful. Keep in mind these are guide lines. Every quilt is unique.