Home made Quilts are a beautiful and wonderful item to own and can add warmth, colour and decor to your home.
Whether they are new or old, hand-quilted or machine-quilted, all quilts are delicate and require proper care to ensure they stay looking and feeling beautiful for years to come.
How Often to Clean Handmade Quilts??????
When reading around this question, it seems to be that all quilters alike believe that less washing is best to prevent fading. For a new quilt that you use on your bed as an extra cover every day, washing once per season should suffice unless you have pets or accidental stains. Antique or heirloom quilts require special care and should be cleaned less often.
To freshen your quilts between washings, air them outside away from direct sunlight.
Hand-washing is the preferred method for cleaning quilts. Even with a new quilt, machine-washing can cause the stitching to ravel.
If you decide to machine-wash, use cold water, a gentle detergent, and the shortest delicate cycle.
As patchwork quilts are often made from a range of colours and fabrics, I would strongly recommend throwing in a couple of colour catcher sheets into the machine. The Colour Catchers will catch dye that has bleed into the wash water.
When drying a quilt after washing, I would strongly recommend air drying them. However as they can be heavy when wet, there is a risk of the weight popping some stitches, so it is important that you support the weight of the quilt whilst drying. I would suggest drying flat on a large airing rack or laying flat on the floor on top of towels until the majority of the moisture has been drawn out, then hang to complete the drying process.
Machine drying can be risky, as quilts are delicate and drying with heat can cause shrinkage in the fabrics and thread. But if you want to tumble dry the quilt, you need to use a very low to no heat setting and only tumble until damp, and then let it air dry.
for more really useful tips and tricks on how to wash and care you your quilt visit https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-care-for-handmade-quilts-2146320
Safety
It goes without saying, that quilts should be kept away from flames, and baby quilts should not be placed in cots with babies until they are at least 1 years old. However baby quilts are perfect for tummy time and playing on and add a splash of colour and softness to your babies nursery.