Washing a baby blanket with appliqués?

[SunnyInDenmark]

I have made a baby blanket out of cotton yarn (the only economical yarn available in Denmark) with tulip appliqués to be attached.  Everything has been wet blocked and is ready to be assembled.  

 

However, this is a baby blanket, so I'm assuming that it will get spilled on and need to be washed.  I don't expect the baby's momma will want to follow fancy washing instructions (like hand washing or air drying).  I know that cotton shrinks a little, but I've never washed anything made from this yarn so I don't know how much.  

 

What would you all suggest I do?  Should I machine wash both the blanket and appliqués, block again, and then assemble?  Just assemble the blanket and hope for the best?  I would love advice!

 

 

Here is the blanket, dry fitting the tulips, before blocking.  A grey border has since been added.  Sorry it's sideways!

[nancybanta]

I've never worked with cotton yarn nor have I ever blocked any afghan I've ever made.  When you block something does that "lock" the shape in place forever or do you need to block it after each washing.

 

If you only block something once and it will stay that shape after repeated washings, then I'd say block it before you sew the appliques on and give it as a gift with instructions to wash and dry flat.

 

If you can wash it repeatedly and never have to block it again, then I would wash and block it this one time - just to allow for the shrinkage and see if perhaps you need to add a bit more of a border to get it to the size you intended.

 

It's a very cute afghan BTW!

[Granny Square]

If you wash a blocked thing, the blocking is gone.  Really, unless you think it needs to be cleaned, to block this before sewing the appliques on you could just dampen it with a spray bottle of water and pat it into shape.

 

It's nice to block it so it looks nice for gifting, but I wouldn't bother to give the new owner special instructions beyond what Nancy said above.  "drying flat' implies, at least to me, that you are more or less blocking it by straightening it for drying.

 

Adorable blanket, by the way!

[SunnyInDenmark]

Thank you!

 

I am more concerned about the cotton shrinking if it gets washed in too warm water, specifically uneven shrinking of the appliqués versus the blanket.  If everything shrinks to the same degree then there's no issue.  However, I used a smaller hook size for the tulips so I'm not sure what will happen.  I guess I will just take a gamble!

[FlossiePotts]

Although crocheted or knitted cotton does shrink if tumble dried, it reverts to its size with use (unlike wool). I have more trouble with cotton stretching, than shrinking.<br /><br />The only time I use my dryer is to get stretched cotton knits back to size.

[SunnyInDenmark]

Although crocheted or knitted cotton does shrink if tumble dried, it reverts to its size with use (unlike wool). I have more trouble with cotton stretching, than shrinking.<br /><br />The only time I use my dryer is to get stretched cotton knits back to size.

 

Thank you!  This is what I was worried about.  The mother I plan to give this to is not very careful and would likely forget that I told her to let the blanket lay flat to dry.  You have just relieved my stress and now I can go ahead and attach the appliqués.