I'm with Bearisgray. I do all the things she does for all the same reasons. It's so much easier to fix little glitches before the quilt is all put together and I like my work to look as good as possible before I start to quilt.
Keep asking any and all questions you may have we're only too happy to give our opinions.

Take what you like, of our opions, and leave the rest. Soon you find what works the best for you.

Andie :D :D :D

I press-press-press all throughout the whole assembly process, and give the whole she-bang a one-more-time pressing before sandwiching and quilting. Doing this makes everything work so much better, and my professional quilter says that the clients who do this give her the easiest quilts to work on. For example, you can actually "block" some of the more rebellious blocks whose shape retention needs some assistance by pressing; the seams lie flat everywhere, which has to make the quilting easier; you can press/steam out some of the barely noticeable "fullness" that comes from easing seams; and a hundred other little positive things that result from taking this extra step.

I press everything even as I go.

I like to iron mine as I go so it will be as flat as possible an catch mistakes. I'm going to try the startching on my next quilt. Linda Re

I longarm quilt and it is so much easier when the top and back is pressed I was hoping someone would address this.

I do iron them before I make sure they are straight and before I quilt them.

I to iron every step, that way if my blocks arn't quite right i can fix them , phill99

I iron the tops when they're done and if they have been folded before being put onto the long arm, I iron them again with starch.

I no longer have to iron the backing after seeing a Sharon Schamber video on it. She loaded the backing into the frame and as she loaded it she sprayed it lightly with starch. I tried it and it was amazing! I wanted to film it! The fabric was washed and had that un-ironed look. I sprayed each section as I loaded it and the wrinkles just totally disappeared, the backing tightened up, and it loaded just perfectly.

How do you make starch with corn starch and water I would like to try it. phill99

I always iron my quilt tops before quilting them. I also iron the backing fabric before loading it on the longarm. Even with the top and backing stretched on the frame, it seems like the seams can still have "bumpy" seams unless I try to get it ironed well. I made a 2' x 4' ironing board out of plywood and duckcloth which makes the ironing so much easier.