nstitches4u

Thank you for sharing this information with us, Crashnquilt. I, for one, appreciate being given information that will help make my quilts look better and make things easier for the LAQ.

justflyingin

Yep. I've found myself hunting for the LIKE button lots of times. Would be great, huh?

quiltinghere

Great reading! I'm glad to hear that 'non-longarmers' are open to suggestions for improvement from longarmers. I would never want to hurt anyone's feelings.

I would like to suggest that making a square top does not start when the blocks are all put together. It begins with the very first piecing in the block. If each section of a 12" block is off 1/8" that block is not going to be 12" when placed in a quilt top. If some of the blocks measure 12" and some 12 1/2"...you're quilt will most likely not be square and you got some ripping to do! Remember to measure as you go!

With borders my biggest recommendation would be to remember to measure the quilt top in 3 places and average it out. "Ease" the border to the quilt top. I've had customers add in 1/2" of border to make the border fit. If they had 'eased' it in, the border would have looked nicer without a small 1/2" piece of fabric sewn into the border.

Bonnie Hunter has a nice tut - http://www.quiltville.com/borderhints.shtml I'm sure there are a lot of other tuts available.

Happy Quilting!

Geri B

I will answer this as a L/A....it is fine to piece the back-nice way to get rid of extra fab. It is just easier for the L/A (at least me) if the seams of that back are going to be horizontal when loaded onto the rollers. The stretch factor, altho it is minimal, when rolling up is nil, but when the seams are vertical there is a bit of tightness along that seam as it is being rolled up and we have to be very careful of equalizing the tension across that roller......can be done, but just need to be aware of the difference in tensions of the two pieces (top-backing).

Re: selvedge edges.......The edges should be cut off as when that quilt is eventually washed there will be a pull along the selvedge seam,it is a tighter weave than fabric body..........as an aside.....those selvedge edges make great "tiers" for bundles of fabric, etc.

Yes, I agree, not all quilts I have rec'd have not been perfect...I can't tell you how many seams have broken while I was quilting, had to stop and repair by hand, and/or had seam volcanoes, wavy borders, etc. But, all these things can be worked around or thru...and I must tell myself when I am working on one of these challenges.......the quilter is proud of what she has done and I am being asked to enhance her "best" work. So, I grin and grimace and just roll on.....

I also wholeheartedly agree it is not necessary to certify a longarmer quilter. In my opinion this will just creat a sub-culture of "continuing education" for a fee to longarmer and $$ in the pocket of the "teacher/organization"offering the "classes". If one is doing this as a business she/he is "up" on the latest techniques and if not let's their customer base their limitations.

A very interesting thread.......

Caroline S

Thank you. All of your information is valuable even for those who do not send their quilts out to be quilted. The best certification for a LA quilter is her repeat customers.