When you Take Your Quilt Top to a
Professional Machine Quilter

Quilting encompasses so many aspects of sewing. Not all quilters like all these aspects.

For example, some people love to piece quilts, but do not enjoy the final quilting stage. Some love the finished stitching that officially makes a quilt a quilt, but could never bear to piece a top. The good news is that those people can join forces to create a beautiful quilt and both can do only the parts they enjoy.

Being a quilt piecer and relinquishing your project to a quilter can be an unnerving act. Likewise as unnerving is being the quilter who is given the project. Both crafters love what they do and strive to do it well. But if communication between the two is not good, neither will be happy with the finished product.

If you are about to turn over your pieced quilt to a machine quilter, you can take a few preparation steps to make the transition easier.

This shows a seam crossing over - it is sewn so it will fold in two different directions, causing excess bulk in your quilt.

First of all, make sure your seam allowances are not too thick. Remember that pressing seams open will make the seam allowance thinner, but it will make quilting with the stitch in the ditch method impossible.

Speaking of seam allowances, don’t forget to press them as you go – or at least before taking your quilt top to the machine quilter.

If you do not press your seams, the machine quilter may be challenged by them. That could lead to wavy stitching if you asked the machine quilter to use the stitch in the ditch method.

And it could lead to a lumpy quilt top because the seams fold in different directions on the back of your quilt.

Before you take your quilt top to be quilted, be sure it is squared. If you add your border without squaring the quilt top up first, you will end up with wavy borders.

Usually you will also be expected to provide the backing and batting to your machine quilter. Be sure your backing extends out past your quilt top by 4 inches all the way around. Like the quilt top, the back fabric needs to be pressed and squared. Don’t forget to cut off the selvedges! (Some quilters will piece together your backing and your batting for an additional fee.)

The quilter won’t expect you to baste the quilt sandwich together. Simply roll it together to deliver it to your quilter. Folding is also acceptable unless your quilter specifies otherwise.

Always begin the communication process by asking your machine quilter for any specific guidelines or requirements.  There may be others, but the simple rules above are a good start in preparation.

It helps if you have an idea in mind of how you want your finished quilt to look. Talk about your options with the quilter. The quilter will likely have a book of designs or motifs that will allow you to pick your own quilt pattern.

Carry pictures from your favorite magazines or from the Internet to show examples of other quilts you like. These can help your machine quilter get an idea of your style. If you see something specific you’d like recreated on your own quilt, be sure to point it out in the pictures you provide.

Don’t be offended if the machine quilter reviews your quilt top and discusses any visible flaws with it. While the faults may be minor and hardly even noticed, they may affect the way it can be quilted. An experienced machine quilter will be able to offer you other options, though, on how to address those minor flaws.

You will also discuss thread options – like the color, variety and weight – that you prefer. Your machine quilter can be very instrumental in helping you make these choices by suggesting which threads work best with his/her machine.

If you don’t know what you want your finished project to look like, and if you truly trust the machine quilter, you can just leave the style choices to the quilter’s discretion. Many people do this. Once you have worked with a quilter for a while, this gets easier to do because they have had time to learn your likes and dislikes.

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren

www.How-to-Quilt.com
www.TheQuiltingCoach.com
www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com

©2010, Penny Halgren
Penny is a quilter of more than 28 years who seeks to interest new quilters and provide them with the resources necessary to create beautiful quilts.

This article courtesy of http://www.How-To-Quilt.com. You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.

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