PREPARING YOUR QUILT FOR LONGARMING

Make sure your quilt top is well pressed and seams are flattened. Seams should be pressed flat to one side, but please press to remove bulk. Ultimately it is your choice if you press seams open. However with Custom work, seams prepared in this manner have no "ditch" for SID work. If you have stars in your quilt, follow general pressing guidelines to eliminate bulk. Please, no mildew, smoky odors or pet hair. If you have an antique quilt top, please let me know. I can usually finish these, even if they're a bit musty. Place your neatly pressed quilt top and pressed backing on a hanger. 

Trim  all hanging threads from the back and edge as much as you can. Those  threads will show through light areas of the quilt and they can also tangle in the hopping foot of the longarm machine. Do not pull threads. Clip them closely. 

Please indicate the top of your quilt and backing with a safety pin if it has a      directional print. If you have a directional print and you’ve seamed the back, check that it is going in the proper direction. It  is easy to miss this!  Backing must be at least 8" bigger all the way around than your quilt top. 

All quilts have their own “personalities”, and quilting does not correct  piecing issues.  If there is fullness in the center or wavy borders, you may wind up with pleats and puckers where there is too much fabric, or poofy areas.  I do my best to correct such problems as I quilt, but I can’t guarantee that I can work out all fullness. Squaring up all of your blocks prior to putting the quilt together really helps with accuracy. To avoid wavy borders and pleats, you must measure properly before cutting. Don’t just slap on your borders and zip down a straight line with your sewing machine. Pins are your friend! For a great border  tutorial, check this out:  https://madamsew.com/blogs/sewing-blog/beginning-quilting-adding-borders-to-a-quilt-top .  

Again—if you have any questions about borders or general quilt construction, just ask! 

 If you want curved corners or scallops, please wait until the quilting is finished to cut the curves. However I would like you to mark them so I know where to stop stitching. Proper attachment of the quilt to the long-arm machine depends on straight borders and square corners. You WILL need to stay-stitch the quilting inside of your cutting line when it is returned to further anchor the stitching.

  When doing E2E quilting, the stitching starts outside of each edge, in the batting. This means special edging such as cording or Prairie Points need a separate border treatment won't fall into the edge to edge category. It is not feasible to "hem" your quilt by pulling the backing over to create a binding. E2E quilting has the threads being secured on the edge of the quilt itself, and it doesn't look "clean" because there is overstitching and basting. My type of E2E quilting is designed for a  traditional binding to cover these starts and stops, and securing of thread.