Long Armers Help Me Please ... I Messed Up Big Time!
 

I have finally gotten brave enough to quilt for a friend on my Jewel. I got to the last pass of quilting and realized that I don't have enough backing fabric to finish the quilt. I'm coming up about 3 1/2 inches short. I asked her to make the back 10" long and wider than the quilt. Could the quilting have drawn up the backing fabric that much?

Did you pin the backing top and bottom??? It it was pinned it could not have been pulled in. Could you have loaded the backing the wrong way? I did that once. I had to remove the whole thing and stitch more fabric to the bottom of the quilt. I feel your pain.

I would let her know. Maybe it was pinned the wrong way...(done that before) or maybe it just wasn't cut to the right size to begin with. I ended up having to add 2 inches to the bottom of the backing. I did take it off and add the strip of fabric to it and loading it back on the frame. I like how it turned out, but I love the look of pieced backings. I talk to her and let her know and maybe she can pick a color of fabric that she likes and you could just add a strip to it.

Sounds like good info............I have loaded the backing the wrong way. Had to take it out of the frame
& add fabric to the length, put it back in the frame & finish quilting it. Almost all mistakes can be corrected.

if you want to measure how long the backing was to begin with... take a cloth tape measure and run it along very edge of the backing where it is not sewn. if you measure the other direction that way, too, you can tell if you loaded it the wrong way.

I have done this before, yes had to remove and add a strip. reload and finish quilting. Found out she didn't cut the backing longer as requested. So now I check and make sure the backing is as requested. If not they have to bring me another backing or add strips them self to the backing. I also single notch the top of backing and double notch the side of backing before I load it.

I've had both happen to me - the customer give me a too short backing, and I've loaded them the wrong way. Now I measure every top and every back that come into the studio. If the customer misjudged, I can call and have them fix it. To keep me from messing up ;-), I place a safety pin at the top of each layer. Then when I load I make sure the safety pinned edges are BOTH on the leaders (or BOTH not on the leaders if I'm loading the long way).

When I loaded the wrong way, I didn't take the quilt off the frame. I just unpinned the bottom edges, and I used a little rolling cart that I can just fit my sewing machine on. I sew a few inches, move the cart, sew a few inches, etc. to add a new piece to the bottom. Repin that edge and you're good to go!

Andi

I feel for you, but it can easily be fixed. Call your customer, explain what happened, either the backing was loaded incorrectly or the backing was not long enough to begin with and ask if she/he could supply additional backing. Seam the additional backing on and you're good to go again.

It is very important that the backing and top be measured correctly before loading and that we quilters do not pin the top down too far on the backing when we load the sandwich.

I can't offer any help to you, but I can offer you my best wishes for a "speedy recovery". Try not to stress over it too much.

I can't offer any help because I'm not a long arm quilter, but just remember that each "mistake" is a learning tool. Don't let it stress you out too much. You won't do that same "mistake" again