Quilt Preparation

 
Your quilt is important to me. The better the quilt is prepared, the better the results will be. Please consider the following when preparing your quilt.

Select backing fabric with the quilting thread color in mind. I have found the best choice for backing fabric is a printed 100% cotton that matches or coordinates with the front.

Piece the backing fabric a minimum of 5" larger than the quilt top on all sides. For example if the quilt top is 70" x 50" the backing should be 80" x 60" Please have backing with seams pressed open.

Batting

The batting needs to be at least 5" larger than the quilt top on all sides.

Batting choices will greatly affect the appearance of your quilt. Cotton batting gives a smoother, flatter look and polyester batting has more texture. I can provide batting if you wish.

Borders

While browsing the web on day, I stumbled upon the recipe for attaching perfect borders. This method insures a square top, without wavy borders.

Measure the length of your quilt top side to side in three places (top, middle and bottom). Add them together and divide by 3. Now you have the actual length of the quilt. Cut that length of fabric, then fold the border in half to find the center, mark, then fold in half again to find quarters and mark again. Do the same with the quilt top. Pin border to the sides of the quilt top matching these marks.

Now measure the width of your quilt top side to side in three places (top, middle and bottom) including the borders you just added. Add them together and divide by 3. Now you have the actual width of the quilt. If you do not do this to your borders, your quilt may not be square and you will have dog ears - corners are wider than center. This does take some extra work but I know you will be pleased with the results.

Note: Borders with cornerstones should be cut to the length and width of quilt top using these measurements, and then the corners added with the third and fourth border strips.

Fullness and Puckers

If there are rippled borders on your quilt I will try my best to work with them, with your understanding that pleats or puckers may be impossible to avoid. The quilting process can hide some of those errors but probably will not make them look perfect.

Quilt Top Preparations

Be sure that all the seams that come to the edge of the quilt are backstitched so they don’t come undone when top is stretched during the quilting process.

Have seams well pressed and clip threads that would shadows under light fabric areas.

If there is a top and bottom to the quilt, indicate them clearly. A note safety pinned to the top works well.