🌱 the slightly fantastical world of a scrappy quilter & her bunny 🌱
FAQs
PREPARING YOUR QUILT
DOs:
The top and back will be stretched across rollers under tension, so please ensure your seams are securely sewn.
Trim all the loose threads, especially darker threads underneath that may show through your quilt top.
Press it like ya mean it, friends! Steaming out deep creases you don’t want to be visible on your finished quilt will ensure a smooth quilt when it’s finished. Then let your quilt top cool and dry thoroughly before folding it up and sending it off to us. Even though it seems counterintuitive to press it before you ship it, the light folds that result during shipment will smooth out when we quilt it. The deep creases…not so much!
Long arm machines love a square quilt! This applies to the top and the backing. Both are attached to the frame at a perfect 90˚ angle, so if this is out then the pattern will stitch slightly out too.
Your squared up backing needs to be 8” longer and wider than your quilt top; for instance a 60″ square quilt would need a backing that measures 68″ x 68″. This gives us enough spare fabric to attach and clamp it to the machine, and quilt up to the edge of your quilt top without the clamps interfering.
If your backing fabric, please use a ½” seam allowance, remove the selvedges to avoid a wavy effect at the seam, and press the seam open if at all possible. You may feel free to leave the outside selvedges on your backing.
DON’Ts:
Please do not baste your quilt. There’s no need since all three pieces (the top, the batting/wadding, and the backing) are all loaded on our machine separately.
Remember we said long arm machines loves a square quilt? Well, they hate embellishments! If you intend to add buttons, beads and fancy treasures to your finished quilt, please add them after we’ve quilted it, since our machine doesn’t know how to navigate around them. The same is true for ric rack, laces and the like. They too, can get caught up in the machine, sometimes causing catastrophic results to your quilt and to our machine!
PLEASE – REMOVE ALL PINS! Except…
If your quilt top & bottom are directional, please mark both with a note safety pinned to the top edge. The same is true if your backing is made up of a fancy patchwork of scrappy heaven you want positioned a certain way in relationship to the front.
Other Tidbits and Useful Mentionables
If there’s a pattern you have in mind that you don’t see, please just ask. Although pricing may vary based on the design intricacy, we’ll be happy to seek it out and give you a quote for using it with your project.
