Quilting Pointers

Preparing the fabric   

1.  You may choose to wash and iron fabric before cutting.  This will preshrink the fabric (cotton shrinks ~3% or ~1” per yard) and wrinkle-free fabric lends itself to accurate cutting.  Washing is the best way to remove unstable or excess dye, especially from red, blue, brown, and black fabrics.   If you do not pre-wash your fabrics, the inclusion of a product, such as Shout Color Catcher, in the wash cycle could attract any excess dye and keep it away from your finished quilt.  

2.  Before cutting fabric, find the straight grain which is parallel to the selvages.  Fold fabric lengthwise and hold opposite (parallel) selvages together.  Adjust between your fingers until the fabric falls from your hands without wrinkles.  This is the true lengthwise grain.  Place this length of fabric on the cutting table without moving the now-straight edges.  Remove the selvage with a rotary cutter by cutting from 0.5” to 1” from the edge of each side. 

3.  True the edges:  Fold on the true lengthwise grain, place the fold on an acrylic ruler's line and cut off edges making a 90º angle between fold and cut edge.  If cutting more than one layer of fabric, be careful the grain is not distorted and the layers are atop one another.

4.  When working with pieces without selvages, test the two grains to determine stretching.  Lengthwise grain does not stretch.   When snapped quickly between your hands, straight grain makes a higher pitch snapping sound than cross grain.  When cutting triangles, try to have straight grain on what will be an outside edge.   Bias (diagonal) edges stretch mightily.  We recommend that beginning quilters stick to rectangles and squares until they have mastered accurate cutting and piecing.

Measuring

When measuring for borders of the finished quilt top, take the measurement at the center of the length, not the edges.  Outside edges are prone to stretching.   Cut two identical length pieces.  Sew and press the length strips before doing the same for the width strips.  If there is a slight difference in length between the strip and the quilt, place the longer or baggy piece down before stitching.  This is the "baggy bottom" technique. The feed dogs will ease in the excess.  This method will lead to true rectangles and square corners.

Cutting  

1.  To enhance safety while cutting, finger guards may be attached to your ruler.  When applied to the ruler (adhesive and suction cup styles are available), fingers are protected on the far side of the guard. 

2.  Hold the rotary cutting blade perpendicular to your cutting surface (self-healing mat) and stand directly above the cutter.  Always cut away from yourself (as opposed to toward yourself).

3.  Roll onto the fabric from the thinner edge, not the fold. 

4.  Stabilize the ruler with fingertips or flat hand while cutting.  If you must move your hand for a long cut, stop the cutter while still in the cutting line, lift and reposition fingers without moving the ruler and resume cutting.  Creeping or sliding fingers on the ruler may cause it to move.

5.  Whenever possible, cut borders and sashing on the lengthwise grain, not the cross grain.  Cross grain stretches and your quilt may be baggy or rippled as a result.

6.  When cutting many identical pieces, realign the ruler every few cuts with the fabric grain.  By not doing this, you may introduce a creep error resulting in distortion – the pieces cut first may not be the same size or shape as the last pieces or cut strips may have a bend in the middle.  

Stitching   

Quilting seam allowance is ¼” unless the pattern states otherwise.   A ¼” seam should actually measure a scant ¼”, a couple of threads less than a true ¼”.   This results in a true ¼” when the seam is pressed to the side.   It may seem unimportant, but a small error could mean a row of complex blocks is 1" - 2” too long or too short.   One method is to practice on scraps;.   Stitching two 2.5” squares should result in a finished and pressed piece that is exactly 4.5” in length.  

Pressing    

1.  Press by placing and lifting the iron after each area is flat.   Sliding or dragging the iron can stretch edges, especially bias and outer edges.

      a) Pressing can be done with or without steam.  It's a personal choice. 

2.  Press each seam before crossing it with another seam.  To set the seam, press it ‘as sewn’ meaning the same configuration it was during stitching.  Place seamed pieces on the ironing surface, still right sides together and the darker fabric on top.  Then, lift the darker fabric and press it away from the lighter fabric so the seam allowances will be lie under the darker fabric.  This is "pressing to the dark side." 

3.  When stitching rows together or pressing blocks where numerous pieces meet in a tight center, pressing technique may vary (for example, pressing seams open).   Borders are usually pressed toward the outside.  

Quilt Sandwich Preparation

Preparing your quilt to quilt at home

1.  To determine the size your batting and quilt backing, measure your quilt top.  Both the backing and batting needs to be from 2” to  4” larger than quilt top on all sides.  Use a low loft batting, 1/8” or 1/4" only.  (cotton, polyester, or a cotton/poly blend is acceptable)

2.  Press the quilt top and backing well. 

3.  Tape or pin the backing tightly to the floor or a table with right side down.  

4.  Lay batting atop the backing, smoothing out all wrinkles.

5.  Place quilt top on the batting, right side up and smooth out all wrinkles.

6.  Hand baste or pin every 4" - 6” starting from center of quilt and working toward the outer edges.   

Preparing your quilt for one of our longarm volunteers

Contact our chapter for instructions regarding the backing measurements.  There is no need to construct a 3 layer quilt sandwich prior to handing off your quilt to the longarmer (do not use pins or adhesive spray). 

1.  Preparing quilt top:  Press the quilt top well (bulky seams should be pressed open) and square up.  No selvages in the seams (selvages can create bulk and difficulties during quilting.)

2.  Backing:  The final measurements of the backing is dependent on the requirements of the longarm quilter (can be up to 8” more than width and the length of the quilt top).  No selvages in the seams.  Horizontal seams are preferred by our longarm quilters to reduce needle wear.  When the seam is vertical, the needle must go over that seam with each row of quilting.  Press well (press bulky seams open) and square up.

Quilting

1.  Quilts for Kids will only accept machine quilted quilts.  Hand quilted or tied quilts are not durable enough.

2.  A walking foot is recommended for machine quilting.  Please space your machine quilting every 2" - 3".  When quilting, it’s a good idea to alternate the starting point from one row to the next, allowing each row or column to offset any distortion created by the previous line of stitching.

4.  Some machines or walking feet have a bar attachment that can set at a measured distance from the needle.   A parallel line can be sewn when this is aligned with the previous line of stitching.  

5.  Stitching ‘in the ditch’ or stitching diagonally from one corner to corner (in a quilt made of squares) will also allow quilting without drawing lines.   Use a large envelope or postcard to guide the stitching on long passes.   Gentle waves are easier to stitch than long straight lines. 

 Laundering and labeling: see Quilt Tips