granny5

I am in the process of finishing a pinwheel quilt and need to know . . . . I am embarassed to ask, but here goes.. .how do you square up a quilt? I have finished a few small quilts in the past and did not even think of squaring it up. I have since read on this board that a quilt should be "squared up"! Darn, I had not even noticed the other quilts were not squared. Anyway, this one is going to a special young man and I want it to be as near perfect as I can get. Can anyone help me by explaining what "square up" a quilt is all about?

sewobsessed1

Lots of help here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=squar...ell=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=efd55752a4aea6a6

feline fanatic

In my mind Squaring up a quilt makes the most difference if you are putting it on a rack to quilt it. Everything goes a lot better when the quilt is nice and square. In my experience if you are handquilting in a lap hoop, FMQ on your own machine or tying it, it makes less of a difference. Also a nice square quilt will lay nice and flat. An out of square quilt will have ripples around the edges.

When I square up I do it when attaching my last borders. I measure the CENTER of the quilt for length and width and I cut my borders to those measurements. Usually I do this in 2 parts. I attach my side borders first so I measure my length in the center of the quilt. Cut the side borders to that measurement and attach them to the sides, easing in any fullness. Once they are both attached I measure my quilts width. Again I take my measurement from the center of the quilt and cut my top and bottom borders to those measurements. Once attached your quilt should be nice and square and lay nice and flat when spread out on the floor. If you squared up each block during assembly you quilt should be pretty darn close to square already.