Quilt Top
Borders
It is important to apply your borders squarely. If borders are not attached correctly this could lead to excess fabric on borders and the top will not lay flat. Pleats and puckers may develop during the quilting process. Click here to watch a helpful video on applying properly. The video in the above link is great tool, the only thing i would add to it is sewing the borders on from the centre outwards to help keep them even rather than sewing them from one end to the other, this is not always necessary, especially for small quilts but when they get larger it does help.
Just remember the flatter your top the nicer the quilting 🙂
Back of your quilt top:
– If you have white or light coloured fabric try to make sure your threads are clipped as they will show through the fabric.
– Press seam allowances to leave the least bulk at the seams.
– If you paper pieced your top then please try to remove all the paper pieces.
Front of quilt top:
– Press your quilt top.
– Cut any threads coming though the top. I do try to trim off ones I see as I go if it’s an edge to edge quilt but this can be difficult and tedious if I am working on a custom quilt and they can get in the way.
– Stitch or serge 1/8” -1/4” around entire quilt top to keep seams together
– I suggest that you hang it on a hanger with a paper towel roll covering the bar – this allows it to drop more rather than fold over the bar especially if its a metal hanger. this is not absolutely necessary of course it can be folded especially if being shipped
Other:
Please do not layer top, batting and backing. When using a long arm these three pieces are loaded separately.
Quilt Backing
- Backing must be at least 3-5″ wider on all sides than your quilt top. Minky should be at least 5″ wider on all sides as it has much more movement in it than cotton backings. if your backing is too small it is sometimes possible to attached leaders to your backing (top and bottom or all sides) that can be taken off after but if that has to be done by me it adds a lot of extra time so there is usually an extra fee for that.
- I usually load the quilt salvage to salvage if you would like it loaded the other way then the the backing needs to trimmed to make it straight. it is important that the backing edges that are being loaded are straight so the quilt rolls straight during the quilting process and you get a a beautifully quilted quilt that has no overlapping designs from an uneven backing.
- Press your backing, making sure any deep creases are pressed out will help to make sure that no folds happen during quilting. light creases should be fine. if this is not done it is not a huge deal as I can mist the quilt backing when loading it to help reduce the creases.
- hang backing on a hanger with a paper towel roll covering the bar this will allow it to drop over the roll and not fold over the crease.
Sew Wild 