Preparing your Quilt for Machine Quilting

The following instructions are for your benifit and mine, they will help to improve the final outcome of your quilt and allow me to finish your quilt in a timely fashion, which in turn will save you money. I am capable of finishing these tasks for you, however I will charge you $20/hour to do so.

Preparing Your Quilt Top

1. Don't baste your quilt. I need it to arrive at my studio in 2 or 3 pieces (1) Your Quilt Top (2) The Backing Fabric (3) The Batting (unless you are purchasing batting from me)
2. MOST IMPORTANT make sure the borders of your quilt are flat and square. Measure through the center and both edges of the quilt top vertically. If there is more than a 1 inch difference, you may want to redo your borders unless you would like pleats quilted into your borders. I have given instructions below on how to apply borders correctly.
3. Check your top for open seams.
4. Clip loose threads from both sides of the quilt top. On lighter fabrics, loose dark threads on the backside will show through.
5. Quilt top should be clean and all seams pressed flat. Seams should be pressed to one side or the other, seams that are pressed in 2 directions per seam or don't lie flat will make stitching difficult and you may have lumps that show through on the finished quilt.

Preparing Your Backing

1. Backing must measure a minimum of 6 inches wider and longer than the quilt top.
2. Wrinkle free and SQUARED. A back that is not square may mean that pleats will occure in your backing as I quilt.
3. Backings that are pieced must not have selvage edges in the seams, selvage edges have a tendency to pull the fabric tighter and this will result in a puckered backing. Selvage along the outside edge is fine, it can actually help me as the edges are more than likely straight.

General Information

Fullness and puckers pieced into the quilt top cannot always be quilted out. I will try, but it may still have puckers and possibly pleats when you get it back I'm a quilter not your Fairy God Mother and I don't have a magic wand and I never have learned how to wiggle my nose. The flatter it lies when I get it, the better the finished product will be.

If you provide the batting, it must measure at least 6 inches wider and 6 to 10 inches longer than your top. The extra length is important especially with larger quilts or with higher loft batting.

Applying a Simple Border

1. Lay your quilt out flat.
2. Measure the height of the quilt just inside both edges and in the middle.
3. Subtract the smallest measurement from the largest measurement.
4. Divide the difference in half.
5. Add the result to the smallest measurement from step 2 to get the length of your border. Cut 2 border strips this length.
6. Fold the borders in half and mark the centres.
7. Pin the borders to the sides of the quilt top, matching centres and ends. Then pin about every 1.5 inches along each border.
8. Sew the borders to the quilt top, slightly easing or stretching the top (not the border) to fit. Press toward the borders. Reapeat these steps for the top and bottom borders.

This border technique comes from a book called "Rotary Magic" by Nancy Johnson-Srebro, it is an excellent quilter's resource I highly recommend it for the beginner quilter, but seasoned quilters will also find it useful as her instructions are clear and concise. It also has instructions for applying perfect mitered binding and mitered corners, plus much much more.