Quilt Preparation

How to prepare your quilt

Preparing Your Quilt

Please review the following information to properly prepare your quilt top for machine quilting. In the end, it will help me be more efficient and incur fewer costs for you.

• Always make sure you have squared your quilt top and your quilt backing material. It is important that the quilt lie as flat as possible to achieve the best quilting design. If there are lots of pieces in the outside border of the top, be sure to trim it up evenly. If it is not square or trimmed, it will not mount straight on the frame when attached, and therefore may have puckers or little tucks because of excess or uneven fabric when machine quilted. (Cost to square up quilt or back material ~$20.00)
  
• Bed sheets are not suitable as a backing because of the high thread count.
  
• Pressing your quilt top and backing is also very, very, important. It is important that the seams lie as flat as possible to ensure a beautiful quilt finish. If you have properly pressed during construction of the quilt top, you will have no problem doing a final pressing before sending it to me. Pressing will make the machine quilting process easier and the quilt will look much nicer when completed. Don’t forget to also press the backing fabric. (Cost to press quilt top or back ~$15.00 an hour)
  
• Some quilts require that the backing fabric be pieced. Remember to remove all selvages that are within the seam allowance, as they are not woven in the same way as the rest of the fabric. (Cost to piece backing ~$20.00)
  
• When preparing quilt backing and batting, it must be at minimum 4 inches larger on all sides than the quilt top!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by telephone, email or use the contact form by clicking on contact page.