Buckeye Rose

Given my age, I am relatively new to quilting, about 3 years or so, and having nobody to teach me I learned on my own. I have taken several quilts to be LAQ and learned so many things about making my tops better from my LA. She has dealt with my wavy borders, uneven blocks, lumpy intersections, and quirky tastes - all while making the quilting look great. I have nothing but admiration for all the LAQ out there. One of my dreams is to have my own quilting studio (instead of a tiny sewing room) with a LA. When that happens, I will be right here for all the answers to silly questions.

bearisgray

A cute video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzoL7ddTEnA

QandE2010

AMEN to everything that you said, CrashnQuilt. Everything is true. I sent you a private message.

needles3thread

Love the video - you can quilt that out! Such good illustrations.

k9dancer

I teach machine quilting on DSM (domestic home sewing machines). The pieced backings are less of a problem for us because for one, you can control the speed and the movement of your quilt. If necessary, we can make stitches manually, one at a time, over these difficult areas. Also, since we are not rolling the quilt onto a rail, the thickness that builds on a LA simply does not apply to us. Will you notice if a pieced backing seam comes under a pinwheel center? You betcha! But, you can walk through it if necessary.

Personally, since I discovered extra wide backing material, that's all I use now because it makes life easier.
Your mileage may vary.

soccertxi

I don't think the quilting itself takes that long, but how many quilts are in the queue in FRONT of that quilt? I don't have many customers, but my frame is rarely empty. I dont' like to have many in my house waiting to be quilted, but I usually have a list of tops that are waiting for me to have room. There are MANY LAers who have waiting lists of much longer than 3 months.

JEM2012

Everything you said is so helpful to know!

Though, I will admit, as someone very new to quilting (only a few months), your post did make me very nervous about sending my own quilts out to a long arm quilter. I would now be scared that she was really judging my work!!

sniktasemaj

Thanks for taking the time to write this. It is good information that I will keep in mind. I already do most of those things, but I did not know about the pieced backing. I sent one quilt to be quilted with an add on piece to the backing as I had not cut it long enough. When the quilt came back, there was a slight separation about and inch and one half long about an eighth of an inch where the seam had come apart. It had been sewn ok and I think the tension of the fabric caused it to separate.

Greenheron

Professional hand quilters also run into these kinds of problems.

petlover

Great post. Thanks for putting it "out there".