Prepare your Quilt
Every long arm quilter will have slightly different requirements for preparing quilts to be loaded on their machines. Whether or not you choose to send your quilts to me for finishing, I hope that you will find these tips helpful. Anything you do to help make your quilt as trouble free to finish as possible will be time well spent for both you and your quilter. Also, many quilters charge extra for performing these services for you, so you can often save money by doing some simple preparation in advance.
Quilting on a long arm frame is very different from quilting on a domestic machine, and as a result, you’ll find that there are many additional steps and watch-outs for you to prepare successfully. The good news is that you never have to baste again, and once you get the hang of it, preparing your quilts will come more naturally.
Click below to find a great tutorial on how to add borders correctly.
Preparing Your Quilt
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Press the quilt top and backing.
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Please trim all loose threads from the quilt top, on both sides. Dark threads will show through white fabric if not trimmed prior to quilting.
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Backing must be at least 5″ larger than the quilt top on top, bottom and both sides. This allows me to load your quilt properly to the frame. Any seams must be open and pressed.
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Mark the top of the quilt with a pin and post it note, do this for both the quilt top and the backing if your quilt is directional.
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For best results, quilt top & backing must be square. It cannot be properly loaded if it’s not square.
Batting
We prefer to use our batting as we want to achieve the very best stitch quality on your quilt. If you choose to provide your own, please make sure it is only 5" bigger on all sides and wrinkle free. There is a $10.00 fee if it needs to be cut to correct size.
We stock the following batting:
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Quilter's Dream 100% Cotton Select (mid loft) in white, Cotton Deluxe in natural, 80/20 in white, 70/30 in natural, Bamboo and Wool