Howdy!
I use laundry soap to wash all the quilting fabric that comes into this house (my skin can't handle the rough finishing chemicals). W/ a good wash & rinse in the machine there's not enough soap left in the fabric to notice or worry about (there's an extra rinse cycle, too, if I need it); I'd know if there was soap residue in the fabric. Now stop second-guessing yourself, Sherry, and get the back on that quilt. It'll be just fine, especially hand-quilted. ;-)
Good luck!
Ragmop/Sandy -- Finished is my favorite kind of quilt
>
> D'oh. I didn't even think about deterioration of the fabric over time.
> I was just thinking of the immediate, if I managed to pull it off and
> get the right color, mission accomplished.
> It's pointless to spend the $$ for better-quality backing just to
> weaken it with bleach.
> Janet mentioned detergent also staying in the fabric. You don't use
> detergent to intially wash the fabric? I usually use a miniscule
> amount, I thought it was necessary to wash all the sizing and junk out
> of the fabric. Do you just wash in plain water?
> And now I've stared at this fabric too long that I 'm really
> second-guessing the choice. The tone-on-tone part seems heavier than
> most. I wonder if it's going to be hard to hand-quilt.
>
> Sherry
>
> Sherry
>