Question for Longarm quilters
 

I currently have a quilt loaded on my longarm and have to ask yet again:o this question. I'm going to quilt in the outside border and possibly the inside border. 1. Do you stitch in the ditch on the borders first then quilt?
2. Or do you quilt the center of the quilt first then do the borders?
I know each longarm quilter does things differently, but all opinions are gratefully welcome.

I am very interested in this thread too, thanks for bringing it up.

i do my borders the way sadiemae said she does hers- sometimes i stitch in the ditch- it depends on the quilt- the quilting i am doing- and whether or not it needs stablizing- sometimes i quilt in the center section-then do the sides-then roll to next section. it all depends on the quilt-

I Always work from the centers out, but it depends on the design I am using on the borders if I quilt as I go or take the quilt off and turn it to quilt the borders.

Using a longarm and standup frame I would SID the top border, then quilt it (this would stableize the border and keep it nice and straight for the quilting); move down through the body of the quilt either basting or SID around blocks until I reached the bottom border. There I would SID the border once agin before quilting it. Remove and turn the sandwich 90 degrees, SID and quilt the border; move down through the body of the quilt, finishing the quilting within the blocks, to the bottom border; SID, then quilt the last border. Just the way I do it to keep the quilt as square as possible. I'm sure you will find what works best for you. Happy quilting!

my 'longarm' is only 9" so i do the 1st border, center, top border, then turn the quilt

I do mine the same as Sadiemae, but alot of you information sounds like it might work better depending on the quilt. Thank you for the information!!!!

I have a 9" and do the same as Nancy in MN (unless I do an all over then I start at the top left and work across and down.

I have been long arming about 6 years. Most of the time on quilts that have a pantograph in the center and different border pattern, I quilt the top border first. (After the quilt is basted on top and as far down the sides as I can reach.) Then quilt the center. If you will have dense quilting or a dense panto, then you really need to baste the entire quilt before you start. Baste the top, down the sides and across the quilt at the belly bar. Lots of folks are now basting the entire quilt first, then rolling back to the top to begin the quilting.

Then I would do the border (top), do the center entirely, then the bottom border. I don't chunk side borders very well so I turn my quilts. I am trying to learn the chunking on my charity quilts but haven't had enough practice.
And most of my quilts are quilted all over Edge to Edge.

Just take your time and enjoy the process.

Lu in TN