preparing your quilt

Preparing your quilt top for Quilting

I will give you suggestions on preparing your backing before you send it to me.
1. Make sure the backing is larger than the top. I need the backing at least 6 to 7inches longer and 8 to 9 inches wider than the top.
2. Measure the quilt top in the center both vertically and horizonally. Use these measurments then add the extra inches to prepare your backing.
I need the extra because the quilt is pinned to leaders on the machine and the sides are clamped so when finished we will have no puckers in the backing. It doesn't matter how large or small the top it they all attach the same way. Please make sure you backing is large enough it saves us both time.

Please notice on the two pictures below the little bump in the quilt top. This is what I call fullness, I don't know what else to call it. This is caused by the way the top is pieced. It is NOT because I have put the quilt on the machine wrong or do not have enough"tension" on the top. I can't quilt it out, I can't make it go away. The best I can do it to try not to stitch through it, this isn't always possible, but I try. (The clamps hold the backing tight not the top.)

This is a picture of the hopping foot as I should see it above the quilt.

This is a picture of the same hopping foot, caught in the quilt because of a hole in the seam. Very hard to get out, and almost always puts a hole in the quilt top.

I want you to be happy when you receive your quilt back. To help me do that make sure there are no holes in the quilt top. Cut off any stray threads, they can get caught and pull. Make sure there is nothing sticking up that is in the way of the needle, this includes fabric and the small folded border we use sometimes as a first border. This can be used it just needs to be basted down, I will be sewing over it, then the basting can be removed. Double check and make sure that all pins in the seams on the back of the quilt top are removed.

Make sure you square up your top before sending it to me.. When I say square I do not mean 90" by 90". I need the ends to be even. If one end sticks out further than the other I don't have a straight edge to pin to the leader.