Originally Posted by Elisabrat
Ok, um, this is not for me *uh huh*.. I have this OBW quilt top. Finished ready to quilt. Question is it does NOT lay flat. There are a couple spots its warped? not sure if this is the correct wording.. but I am about as done with it as I am going to be and want to quilt it and never do one again. Ok.. at least I don't want to toss it in the fire to start the kindling which of course I have never thought of before now.. I just think it wont take to regular quilting as it might buckle or whatever the correct term is on top. So how do I finish it besides in the fire? I just would love so much to get a couple words of advice here. I am lost :(
Thanks for listening to my P* and moaning. I promise to post if it finishes out with only having to hang my chin to my chest and not my toes.
Is it really wonky? Are you sure it won't quilt out? to be flat? It can't fix a wrong dimension...you have to trim slivers (or more) off to do that.
Are you going to send it off to be machine quilted? THAT will fix minor faults.
It needs to be at least heavily basted to do this. Sometimes this is done to finished quilts to straighten them.
Have you got a big enough flat place you can get wet?
You might have to go outdoors to fix a large quilt.
Have you tried wet blocking the quilt?
Have you heard of this?
Lay the quilt top on something that will hold water, like a big piece of plastic or a shower curtain with the edges turned up a little, about an inch.
Carefully begin to wet the quilt soaking it, but no more water than that. Using a long straight edge, like a long ruler, lay it along the edge, pushing a bit toward the center until the edge is straight. Press it down with your fingers to sort of "squish" the threads in the fabric down flat. Wiggle them just a little bit to move the fibers!
If you have a hump work it flat.
Take a towel and lay it over the quilt soaking up as much of the water as you can, without disturbing the "flattened" parts. Take off the wet towel. Repeat with a dry towel as many times as you want. Not too dry, though Wet, not drippy is what you want.
Leave it to dry undisturbed. Do not touch it until it is completely dry..It will dry faster outdoors, Cover it with a sheet to keep debris off. It will dry OK with the sheet on.
You can use a fan indoors, moving it occasionally.
It will dry flat and square.
It will stay that way!
Just carefully don't stretch it again.
Jeannie