How come when i fold my quilt one way it is ok, folding opposite way its like 5 inches off!

Sounds like your fabric grain may be off. To correct this, tug diagonally in the direction you want it to square up to until it is straight.

Your title says it all. It's not square.

This is how I fold to check if my quilt top is square or not:

First, take 2 opposite sides (doesn't matter which ones) and fold them into the center. Make sure where they meet in the center they lay flat, and smooth it out to both ends - however it falls. Where they meet should be flat, don't worry about matching anything else.

Look at edge where the fold meets and lays on top of the bottom layer (at both ends). Are the layers flush? Off 1/2"? Or off 3"?

Now do the same for the other 2 sides. Same problem?

The problem is usually that the folded sides hang over the bottom layer. Usually.

I always check the quilt top before it's quilted, and then again after.

The quilt top could have been square and something went "off" in the quilting. Could be the way I handled it on the domestic machine, or the way it was quilted on the long arm. It could have been stretched during any number of steps. It's not an accusation, but stuff sometimes happens.

And it depends on the quilt and how attached I am to it ;-) on what I do to fix it.

For me, if it's off 1/2", I can deal with that. If I'm not really feeling the quilt, I can live with an 1". Also the size of the quilt matters. But if it's a lot more, I will usually end up blocking the quilt - usually before I put the binding on - into submission. ;-)

But it's your totally your choice.

Thank you very much, I will try that.


candykisses