Preparing Your Quilt For Longarm Quilting

There are a multitude of online sites that address preparing your quilt for longarm quilting. If you have any specific questions about getting your quilt ready please ask!

1. Make sure your quilt top is well pressed and seams are flattened.  Seams should be pressed flat to one side and not pressed open. (If you have stars in your quilt, follow general pressing guidelines to eliminate bulk.) Place your neatly pressed quilt on a hanger. 
2. 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. 
3. 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! 
4. Quilts must be clean and free of odors. I reserve the right to refuse quilts with strong odors so that they may not  contaminate the work of other clients and my equipment.  Sorry, but I can not accept items covered with lint or animal hair or that have a mildew or smokey smell. If you have acquired an old quilt top that you want finished, we can discuss preparing it for quilting. In most cases we can finish it, but it might need some advance treatment and be in and out of my quilt studio in record time! 
5. Identify the top of your quilt and backing with a safety pin if it has a directional print. With that note, 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. 
6. 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, square corners. You WILL need to stay-stitch the quilting inside of your cutting line when it is returned. 
7. 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. E2E quilting has the threads being secured on the edge, and it doesn't look "clean" when there is overstitching and basting. My type of E2E quilting is designed for a traditional binding.