top of page

Preparing Your Quilt for Longarming

Preparing your Quilt for the Longarm

 

 

  1. Make sure all your seams are closed and intact and your quilt lays flat. Press it and check. Open seams can rip your quilt when on a longarm and I cannot be held accountable for this.

  2. PLEASE make sure your quilt is squared and even on all 4 sides. Do the same with your backing. And square them to each other too

  3. Prewash if needed. I cannot take a quilt that is smoky or full of dog hair.

  4. Consider stay stitching the top edges ¼” away to stabilize your top, especially if you have a lot of seams.

  5. Prepare your borders by measuring through the center of your quilt rather than along the edges. Or measure top, middle and bottom and average the measurements. They fit much better that way. Wavy borders may incur additional costs to fix!

  6. PLEASE clip all loose threads or you may incur a charge for me to do that.

  7. Press your top, consider using Best Press or starch too.

  8. Mark the top with a large safety pin if your quilt has one. Same with the back.

  9. If your quilt top includes embroidery, applique or folded fabric, there may be an additional charge as it may require custom quilting

  10. The back should be pieced with the seams pressed open and the selvedges removed. ½” seams are best on backs.

  11. Backs need to be at least 6 inches longer and wider on each side than your top. This means 12” longer and wider in total. This allows me to load the quilt either way.

  12. If you are providing the batting, make sure it is good quality, and at least 6 inches wider and longer than your quilt top. I reserve the right to substitute other batting if what you bring will not give you the results you desire.

  13. Do not layer or pin or spray your quilt. The layers are put together on the longarm.

  14. If I need to prepare your quilt before quilting, I reserve the right to charge a fee for doing this.

  15. If your quilt top is in poor condition, smells bad, or has really wonky blocks and borders, or inadequate sized backs and batting I may call and ask you to fix these things before quilting.

  16. Decide how you are going to use your quilt. That can impact your choice of batting and thread.

  17. Remember, the condition you bring your quilt in is how it will come out. Longarm quilting cannot fix bad quilts. 

bottom of page