Preparing Your Quilt

My home is smoke free and pet free. Your quilt top is important to me. The better the quilt top is prepared, the better the finished result will be.  Consider the following steps as you prepare your quilt top:

• The backing fabric needs to be a minimum of 8″ larger than the height and width of your quilt top. For example if the quilt top is 70″ x 90″ the backing should be 78″ x 98″. Please have backing squared and pressed.

• Check for any seams that are not properly caught in the 1/4″ seam allowance. These could come apart when the top is on the rollers. Be sure that all the seams that come to the edge of the quilt are backstitched. When placed on the longarm machine rollers and rolled taught, edge seams can come loose if not well reinforced.

• Have seams well pressed.  Clip threads that would show through under light fabric areas.

• Label the top of the quilt clearly if there is a difference.

• To eliminate stretching, stitch around the outside edges of your finished quilt top a scant 1/4 inch from the raw edge.

• Do not baste or pin the quilt layers together. This is not necessary for longarm machine quilting, as they are loaded separately onto the rollers.
• If you prefer I can seam your backing for $8 per seam. This includes pressing and squaring.