Preparing Your Quilt

Quilt Top Preparation:

Please take note of the following steps to provide a beautiful finished quilt and to help keep your costs low.

Thoroughly press your quilt top making sure the seams are flattened directionally as you wish Trim all stray threads because trailing threads can get caught between the layers and show on through your quilt.

Make sure that none of the ends of seams will pull apart when a gentle stretch is appliied. "Popped" seam edges will be repaired at an extra cost. if you quilt has no borders, we suggest that you stay stitch 1/4" on all edges to prevent these popping of seams. Please do not serge the edge.

If there is a direction to your quilt top or backing, safety pin a note to the top stating that it is the top.

Backing Preparation:

Measure your quilt top and make the backing at 4 inches larger than the top on all sides ( a total of 8 inches both width and length of top). For any seams of the backing, press the seam OPEN, not to one side as in the quilt top.

Make sure the backing is pressed and squared up. Trimming and pressing of the backing witll be an extra charge.

Please do not use sheets for backing fabric as they cause problems for our machine.

Note that according to your personal preference, you may, or may not, want to select a backing fabric that varies in color dramatically from the top. During longarm quilting, top and bottom thread is chosen to match your quilt top. If your top fabric is light and your backing fabric is dark, you will see contrasting thread on the back of your quilt. Some people like this look, some do not; so just be aware of this. We will do what you want.

Batting:

We have available for your choice, batting in Warm and Natural 100% cotton, Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly blend, Comfortloft, low loft poly, and Quilters Dream. Black batting, fire retardant batting and other specialty batting such as wools, etc. must be ordered so allow extra time for this step.

The batting must also be the same size as the backing to allow for a pretty finished quilt. If you supply the batting that is not one of these brands (such as a generic store brand), we cannot guarantee the final look of the quilt.

Thread:

We will provide the thread selection for your quilt. We use 100% long staple cotton threads for the longarm machine but we have a large variety of solid colors as well as a good selection of variated colors that will match your quilt. If you desire a special color that we do not stock, we will be happy to order that color for you and only 2-3 days need to be allowed for the thread delivery. If you request a monofilament (invisible) thread, an extra charge will be made for this specialty thread.

Our pricing of threads includes 5-10 bobbin fills depending on the size of the qult. However, some designs use an excessive amount of thread due to the intensiveness of the design, and if this type of design is chosen, the charge for extra bobbin fills will only be $1 per fill. A bobbin count will be given on your final invoice if there are excess thread charges.