Storybook Quilts Rocks!

We often get inquiries from Twitter and Facebook followers (and others) about how to care for handmade cotton quilts. Below is a general guide that explains things in greater detail than we do on the website.

First, the whats

General rules for caring for a cotton quilt

To minimize fading, keep the quilt out of direct sunlight or strong light.

If the quilt is folded, try to fold it a different way each time to avoid developing “fold lines” over time.

Love it. Quilts really are quite rugged. Nothing is more beautiful than a quilt that shows it has been used and appreciated!

General rules for cleaning a cotton quilt

Wash in cool or lukewarm water — either by hand in a bathtub or other large tub, or in a washing machine on the gentlest setting. The idea is to not put strain on the quilt by pulling on it when it’s wet and heavy. Pulling could pop the stitches or wad up the batting, dangers that increase as a quilt ages. However, dirt is a greater enemy than gentle washing is a danger.

If you wash by machine, use a washing machine large enough that the quilt fits comfortably. If you have to stuff it in the washer, the quilt will not clean or rinse evenly and also probably will come out very wrinkled.

Use a mild soap; harsh cleaners can fade fabrics. Then rinse well — get the soap out; soap left in the quilt can absorb dirt (which is what it’s designed to do in the wash).

If washing by hand, keep squeezing the quilt to get out as much water as possible. If using a machine, use the lowest spin speed. This will help avoid wrinkles and too much pulling and twisting.

To dry, the safest method is for a larger quilt is to hang it over two parallel lines and move it a few times to prevent the lines forming ridges from the weight of the quilt. (Smaller quilts often can be hung with clothespins — see photo.) I often dry my quilts on very low heat in the dryer until they are damp-dry, then spread them over a bed or couch or clothesline to finish drying. If you use this method, keep checking the quilt in the dryer and rearranging it to be sure it is drying evenly and does not over-dry.

These general rules apply to “new” quilts; antique quilts are quite another matter and are best cleaned by an expert. The threads and fabrics in an old quilt are likely to be brittle and the batting can shift easily, or worse.

Now, the whys

For a newer quilt, three factors are the main determinants in its cleaning: fabric composition and quality, batting composition and quality, and quilting method — i.e., hand v. machine quilting, quilting v. tying.

Fabrics

Good, high-quality cotton fabrics that one finds in a shop dedicated to quilt fabrics are quite rugged, more so than their cheaper cousins available in “crafts” shops or used in most mass-produced “handmade” quilts made outside the USA. Good cotton can withstand a great deal of pulling and tugging and pushing and shoving, which is a good thing because quilts are made to be loved! Cheaper cottons will disintegrate sooner — the folds in particular will wear through. Colors are more likely to run in cheaper cottons.

All cotton fabrics shrink a bit. Good handmade quilts, including ours, usually are made with fabrics that have been washed before being made into a quilt. This reduces shrinkage later and it also gets out any extra dye in the fabric. To minimize further shrinking, wash the quilt in cool water.

All cotton fabrics will fade. Sun and strong light make this happen faster; leaving a quilt folded in strong light also can make the exposed part fade faster and give your quilt an uneven look. (This I know is true, from unfortunate experience!) A evenly faded quilt, to me, is beautiful because it shows the quilt has been used and loved!

Batting (the part between the top and the backing)

Modern battings are a lot less likely to shift and bunch up than were the old cottons and wools, and they are much easier to clean. The mass-produced “handmade” quilts made outside the USA often have a heavy, cheap cotton batting that’s not very durable and does not wash as well as our soft, flexible cotton batts.

Batting can be cotton, wool, polyester, a blend or entirely manmade; battings also can be of different thicknesses, which determines warmth and affects how the quilt drapes. Some battings are better made than others and so are less likely to shift or shrink when washed. The best battings, such as the ones we use, are made so that they shrink little or not at all — washing will give a “quilty” look but not a “oops! too much pucker!” look. We use high quality cotton, cotton-poly or manmade flame-retardant battings in our Storybook Quilts.

Batting is the main reason that a quilt should not be ironed. Poly and poly-cotton blend battings can melt under the heat of an iron. Cotton battings get squished. You can fluff up a quilt and ease out wrinkles by putting it a dyer on low heat with a damp towel for 10 minutes or so.

Quilting method

Hand quilting, if done well, is as durable as machine quilting and, in many cases, has a lot more character. Machine quilting generally seems stronger, but the stitches can come out if the ends of the threads have not been carefully tied off or otherwise secured. This is a key reason for washing quilts only in a gentle cycle, or for washing by hand — to avoid pulling out the stitches or, worse, actually breaking them.

Some quilts are tied — a heavy thread (crochet cotton, embroidery floss) is pulled through the quilt, tied on the top side, and cut off to leave a tuft. Tied quilts can be made more quickly; they are just about as rugged as a sewn quilt, but the ties can sometimes come loose. Check the ties before washing. Finding a matching thread for one lost in the wash could be difficult.

Why not dry clean?

First, it’s not necessary — water is not harmful to good cotton quilts. Second, the solvents in dry cleaning fluids may be harmful. And, third, the process can scrunch up the quilt so badly that the quilt fabrics are completely wrinkled or the batting shifts and produces lumpy areas.

The bottom line: Buy a good quilt and treat it as you yourself would like to be treated! Love it and enjoy it, then pass it on to the next generation to treasure.

Contact us if you have questions or comments!