question to long arm quilters
 

I will be getting a long arm quilter in June and I can hardly wait. I have been reading "Mastering the art of Longarm quilting" by Gina Perkes. One of the last chapters talks about blocking the quilt after you take it off the machine. She instructs to spray enough water to saturate the layers and pin it into place to reshape it. Is this something all of you do with every quilt you do?

I've never done that. I work very hard to keep my quilts very square as I am quilting them, (I use my vertical and horizontal channel locks alot, and also a longarm centering tape sewn onto each leader and another suspended overtop ) so that very little needs trimmed off when they are "squared up" after the quilting is finished. I think most la'ers do the same. I would certainly not do that for a customer quilt, unless I was specifically asked to block it and I would be the person binding it, too.
Congratulations on your new machine! :thumbup: Have fun with it! :D

I don't block quilts. All of mine are for using, not show. I have never made one that was so wonky you could tell, even when laid out on a bed.

No I do not block quilts. That would be outside the scope of what a longarmer would provide. Gina Perkes enters a lot of shows and her quilts are very nice. They win lots of awards. I like to enter shows too but even then I do not block my quilts. It just seems to be too much of a chore to me. If I sew consistently, I don't feel my quilts need blocking.

I think that chapter was probably added to the book for completeness. I doubt if anyone consistently blocks all their quilts. I blocked one when I first started quilting - it needed it - but since then I haven't seen the need. However if you're entering a serious competition, even a slight bit of wonkiness would matter.

I do not block my quilts.

I don't block my quilts either

No, that is way more work than you are getting paid for. Guess it might be different if the quilt was for a show but the ones I have done are all for enjoyment. I try to keep them as square as I can on the machine. Sometimes they are just not square and there isn't anything you can do but have not tried the blocking.

No - I don't block my quilts -- -if they're truly squared up when I put it on the machine, then it'll be tweaked maybe only a little bit. I can't imagine putting that much water on a customer's quilt!!! Maybe, if you find that your quilt is wonky, then put it in the washer with one of those sheets that stops bleeding and get it wet, then block it. I've never had a quilt that was that wonky!

The only way I block mine is if they are totally wonky and there is just no other way around it!