I just have to say that this is a wonderful quilt!! :)

If it was me, I'd take it to the dry cleaners

I think washing on gentle and tumble dry should be just fine.

Good luck with the washing. I have no idea on this subject. Very unique quilt, nice work!

i wash mine on a gentle/delicate cycle and in the summer, i just lay them on the back porch to air dry. Not sure how i'll dry this one i'm currently finishing...

Is there any way you can test the signatures to find out if they are colorfast? I would be afraid to wash it unless I were absolutely sure whatever was used for the signatures is permanent. Or, are those embroidered signatures? If embroidered, again you have to make sure that the dye in the floss won't run.

I would hate to send a quilt like this to the dry cleaners; I normally would use either the top-loader method of washing (stop before agitation cycle and hand agitate, then spin out, add rinse water, hand agitate again, then spin out) or a gentle cycle in a front-loader. It is the signatures that give me pause....

I wonder if the black thread would run? Thread wasn't as colorfast as it is now. It's a lovely quilt. As previous poster has said, the signatures are the part I would be concerned about.

soaking is the only way to do old quilts. then spin and fill with clean water. soak, then spin again.

I wash them on gentle with a short cycle. Use Synthropol, or any low foam detergent like Woolite. I rinse mine twice and spin them out. I put them in the dryer but take them out before they are 100% dry, then hang them over my quilt frame to completely dry.

THird generation of quilt washers here. None of us ever did anything special---just wash them and dry them.