Quilt Preparation
Refer to this list to ensure the best results, and most relaxing experience for your quilt at the lakeside…
Don’t worry, I don’t look at the back!
First, I have to tell you, I never look that the back of a pieced top. I am not hear to judge, and I can quilt just about anything out…I have a bag of tricks! Press your seams however floats your boat. No quilt police allowed in my house!
Press it.
Give the entire top and backing a good press before folding. Consider folding them on the bias using the technique shared here to fold your top and backing to prevent deep creases. How to fold fabric on the bias tutorial. You don’t lose points if you don’t use this method of folding, but it can make the quilting process speedier on my end.
Stay stitch.
If your quilt is heavily pieced all the way to the edge, and especially it there are bias edges along the sides (think the edges of triangles) stay stitching helps to keep your top square and true. Shorten your stitch length a tiny bit shorter than usual, and stitch anywhere from an eighth to quarter inch in from the very outside edge of the quilt all around. This stitching will disappear under your binding, but can make a significant difference in the final shape and flatness of your quilt.
Mark the tops.
Please don’t assume I understand your quilt top exactly as you do. I haven’t spent nearly as much time with it! If your top and/or backing are directional, please indicate someway (pin a note, use some masking tape) which end is up. If you choose a directional quilting design, this will matter!
Speaking of marking…
Feel free to slip any notes you feel pertinent in with the top! I always appreciate notes on hand with the dimensions of the top and backing, for example.
Clip the threads.
Give your top the once over for any threads poking up between seams, and clip them, please. I try and catch all the stragglers I can, but it slows the process down, and if I miss them, they occasionally get stitched over and tacked down pretty well.
Protect it.
If you are shipping your quilt to me, I recommend putting the fabric in some sort of sealed bag. Extra large ziploc bags work really well. I have never received sopping wet mail, but there is always a first for everything, and my paranoia says this is probably good practice. Your quilt will be returned in a comforter bag, inside the shipping box.
The all important backing discussion…
Shape
Quilt backings need to be square to be properly mounted to the quilting frame. By square, I mean that the corners have to be 90 degree corners, and the opposites sides have to be parallel to one another, not that the backing has to be a square in the Sesame Street sense of the word. :-)
It is important and interesting to note that wideback fabric manufacturers and longarmers nearly all recommend tearing your wideback fabrics. Cutting them with a rotary cutter will not actually lead to a straight edge. It can lead to a VERY wonky edge with one side of the fabric MANY inches larger than the other. Please tear your widebacks… if you don’t, know that I will, and fingers crossed that there will be enough fabric left when it is squared up.
Size
Backing and batting must be at least 3 inches larger than the top of the quilt on all sides. That means a 100 x 90 quilt top requires at least a 106 x 96 piece of batting and backing. I appreciate it greatly, if you leave a note in with your quilt indicating the dimensions of the top and backing (and batting if you are providing your own.)
Should I prewash?
DO NOT PREWASH YOUR TOP! I appreciate the thought, if you want to make the top all nice and fresh for me, but chances are, you will end up in tears washing a top before it is quilted…. ask me how I know. * tear *
DO PREWASH FLANNEL WIDEBACKS. I adore flannel on the back of a quilt, so I’ve had a lot of experience with it. I have had it shrink up to four inches in both directions after a good wash and dry. If you get this shrinking out of the way before it is quilted, you won’t have to worry about the top distorting when it is stitched down to the shrinking backing.
Can I piece my backing?
I follow 3rd Story Workshop’s #partyinthequiltback on Instagram, and love the creativity! I sometimes use a quilt top as a back to my quilt top and make a two-sided quilt because there are only so many beds and generally too many quilts. The only things you need to know about a pieced backing are that they need to follow the rule of being square that I explained here under “Shape,” to mark the top, if your backing is directional, and that it is VERY SUPER MEGA difficult and troublesome to try and centre a design on the backing, to the quilt top.
Can I use a sheet or minky or fleece or batik as backing?
You can use nearly any fabric your heart desires, so long as it is square. With that in mind, a few words about sheets…. In my experience, sheets, especially used or vintage sheets, are not always square, like you would expect. Keep this in mind if there is a geometric print on the sheet that might end up wonky, and when considering I need a square backing to mount to the machine. Also, sheets and batik can be tightly woven, and can differ in thread count. Sometimes this causes the stitch quality on the back of the quilt to suffers.
