How to Prepare your Quilt for Long Arm Quilting
Quilt Preparation
Quilt Top
- Don’t baste any of the layers together. I can't load your quilt if you've pin basted it, so please take the pins out.
- Tip: when measuring how long to cut your borders before adding them to your quilt top, measure through the center of the quilt top as well as the outer edges, and average these 3 measurements together to cut your borders to. Match outer edges and centers, and ease in any fullness. This will go a LONG way towards reducing "wavy borders." Search YouTube for videos on how to do this if you don't understand. This video from National Quilter's Circle is a great one.
Quilt Top
- Press all your seams flat (not necessarily open, just flat). Clip loose threads, especially if you have dark threads on the back of a light-colored quilt top. Make sure your top is nice and square. Measure your quilt across the bottom, middle, and top. These three measurements should be pretty close to identical! If not, your quilt corners may not be square after quilting. Spray starch is a great way to get near-perfect cutting, sewing, and pressing results. If you're having trouble with wavy borders and uneven blocks, try a spray starch during the construction process next time.
- If your quilt is directional, mark the TOP of your quilt with a safety pin.
- Check your seams to make sure there are no gaps or holes. If any seams extend to the edge of your quilt, stay stitch 1/8 inch from the edge of the quilt across the seams to secure them.
- Remove any pins, buttons, or other embellishments from your quilt top for later.
Quilt Backing and Batting
- Both the backing and batting need to extend 5 inches further than each edge of your quilt top, so that your backing fabric and batting are 10 extra inches bigger than your quilt, in both length and width. More is ok, less is not. Here's an example: If your quilt top is 52 x 60, your backing and batting should be at least 62 x 70 inches. This gives me an extra 5 inches on each of the four sides of your backing to load your quilt easily. If you have problems with this, contact me, and we can talk about options. This additional fabric is necessary because I use a rod and snap system to load the fabric onto my longarm machine, instead of pins (which take longer and may result in blood on your quilt, lol!).
- When possible, leave the selvages on the outer edges of your backing fabric, as they provide a nice straight edge to attach to the long arm. If you've sewn the selvages together in the middle of your backing to form a seam, make sure to cut the selvage off, or at least snip them, as selvage shrinks differently from the rest of the fabric. (If you're wondering what the selvage is, read this!)
- If you piece your backing, run the seam(s) parallel with the longest side when possible. This makes it easier to keep everything straight while quilting. However, there's no need to run a seam exactly through the middle of the backing.
- Please don't sew a border fabric around the outer edges of your backing (essentially "framing" the backing like a picture frame). It's very challenging to perfectly center the quilt top in a specific place over the backing on a longarm machine, and it's possible that some of the "frame" fabric will land on one edge of your quilt, but not another, making the back of your quilt look a little odd!
<<<===Don't "frame" your backing like this.
If your quilt is directional, mark the TOP of your backing with a safety pin. Make sure your backing is cut evenly and as straight as possible. Straight, square edges are best--all FOUR SIDES please :)
Backing Fabric Information
Select your backing fabric with as much thought as you give to your quilt top. Pieced backings can result in bagginess, fullness and pleats, because it's hard to create perfectly straight seams when joining multiple pieces together. This is especially true when you join fabrics with their weave running different directions, because the fabric stretch won't be consistent across the back. "Party in the back" is fun, but can result in problems sometimes.
Combining different types of backing fabrics (mixing cottons and batiks, for instance) can create thread tension issues, because different fabrics need different thread tensioning, and the quilter can't change the tension every time there's a change in backing fabrics.
Wide back fabrics can be a good choice, if they're quality fabrics. Many don't tear straight, so don't rely on tearing the fabric to get a straight edge. They can also shrink significantly, like 3-4 inches, so if you're using a wide back, be sure to pre wash it.
Batik fabrics can be challenging as backings because they have a dense weave, which is more likely to show needle holes and batting pokies, and can create thread tension issues.
Lastly, pre-washing your backing fabric usually results in better thread tension, as it removes finishes applied to the fabric during production which can make balanced tensioning challenging (especially true with panel fabrics).
If your quilt is directional, mark the TOP of your backing with a safety pin. Make sure your backing is cut evenly and as straight as possible. Straight, square edges are best--all FOUR SIDES please :)
Backing Fabric Information
Select your backing fabric with as much thought as you give to your quilt top. Pieced backings can result in bagginess, fullness and pleats, because it's hard to create perfectly straight seams when joining multiple pieces together. This is especially true when you join fabrics with their weave running different directions, because the fabric stretch won't be consistent across the back. "Party in the back" is fun, but can result in problems sometimes.
Combining different types of backing fabrics (mixing cottons and batiks, for instance) can create thread tension issues, because different fabrics need different thread tensioning, and the quilter can't change the tension every time there's a change in backing fabrics.
Wide back fabrics can be a good choice, if they're quality fabrics. Many don't tear straight, so don't rely on tearing the fabric to get a straight edge. They can also shrink significantly, like 3-4 inches, so if you're using a wide back, be sure to pre wash it.
Batik fabrics can be challenging as backings because they have a dense weave, which is more likely to show needle holes and batting pokies, and can create thread tension issues.
Lastly, pre-washing your backing fabric usually results in better thread tension, as it removes finishes applied to the fabric during production which can make balanced tensioning challenging (especially true with panel fabrics).
Disclaimers
If your quilt has fullness and/or puckers, unfortunately they cannot be quilted out. I can’t guarantee that puckers and tucks won’t be sewn in. In some cases, excessive fullness in borders may result in the quilt corners not being square. The flatter your quilt top is, the better your finished quilt will be. I will definitely try to work in any fullness, but cannot guarantee this! If you're having trouble with your borders, there are some great YouTube videos on attaching borders to solve these problems.
If your quilt has fullness and/or puckers, unfortunately they cannot be quilted out. I can’t guarantee that puckers and tucks won’t be sewn in. In some cases, excessive fullness in borders may result in the quilt corners not being square. The flatter your quilt top is, the better your finished quilt will be. I will definitely try to work in any fullness, but cannot guarantee this! If you're having trouble with your borders, there are some great YouTube videos on attaching borders to solve these problems.