Originally Posted by
adamae
On one of the quilt shows on tv a long time ago, I heard a quilter say she was going to enter a quilt into competition and it would be judged for being square. she said to make hers work she laid it on the floor (undoubtedly waterproof) and spritzed water on it and shaped it. Said it was nearly sopping wet by the time she was satisfied.
This is called "blocking" and is actually a common practice. You definitely want to make sure your fabrics are bleed-proof and pins are rust-proof first, though. I know of one poor quilter who made an absolutely gorgeous quilt and blocked it. But when she blocked it, some of her batiks ran. So she soaked it in water and color catchers (and also Synthrapol, if I remember right) but then her pins rusted. Poor thing! She was able to work most of the stains out and it's won several awards since.