Ripples in Quilt Top
 

After almost 4 years I have finally finished a BOM from Laundry Basket Quilts called Sticks and Stones. It has been a huge challenge for me as it is a lot of Y seams. There is a big star in the middle of it, lots of little pieces. Bias!! It has lots of ripples in it, I have tried spray starch, coping strips, crying, more spray, more crying. I pinned it to the carpet hoping to get it to behave, didnt really help. I am hoping that when I quilt it I can take up some of the ripples. Does anyone have any ideas for me? Will one type of batting over another work better to get it to take up some of the slack?

Sometimes, you just have to do a bit of seam ripping and tighten up some of the seams. When I am quilting (on my longarm), I have been known to just sew the ripple down if it is found on an outside border, but it's hard to hide that out in the middle. Would you mind sharing a picture of the infamous quilt? "smile" fyi....I have a couple of those that I need to whip into shape.

Edited to add: Some people have been known to applique something cute over an obvious problem and the problem goes away. Would that be something that would work? I am thinking of something like a free floating flower with a ruffled edge.

When sewing clothes, sometimes, you have to ease fabric in. I don't think that would work on something that is supposed to be flat. It's most often done on curved seams when sewing clothes.

http://www.laundrybasketquilts.com/o...ones-p43623821

Oh, my word! That does look difficult (if I've got the right one). What are coping strips?

I'm sorry about the ripples. Will you be quilting this yourself?

Lonestars are notorious for not laying flat. Kudos to you for making one! I agree with Tartan about a higher loft batting. There are some good videos online where longarmers show how they managed to quilt a top that wasn't flat. I don't know how that would translate to quilting on a DSM, if that's what you're doing.

Joe's Mom, yes! That is the one. I made the squares that go around the big star about 3 years ago and then put it away. Got it back out and was determined to finish it. The coping strips are because after I made the big star and sewed it the outer squares didnt fit. They were too small. So a coping strip is a strip of fabric that will help you get things to fit right. I used 2 1/2 inch strips sewn to the outer squares. My friend has a longarm and we will be quilting it on her machine. I will look up the videos to see what other have done. Dunster, I had no idea when I started this quilt it would be so difficult. I didnt know that about lone stars. If I ever do one again it wont have such small pieces. It seems that with the smaller pieces there is a lot more bother and fuss trying to get it all to fit.

Fluffy batting helps. I prefer cotton but switched to high loft polyester on a quilt that wouldn't stay down. Not pretty but it''s done.

Sorry I don't have suggestions for the ripples, other then try and just rip and fix where the major one's are. However, that is some quilt to have accomplished. Lesson I learned don't try to tackle this quilt yet.

Another thought, use the super high loft batting and pretend it is a Puff quilt which is supposed to be puffy. https://www.shannonfabrics.com/downl...ePuffQuilt.pdf

Good luck with this quilt. I haven't been doing long arming that long, but my first thought would be to start in the center and work my way out along your seam lines. Diagonally first, then go back in and fill in the stars with a singular pattern. Or, just do a regular Pantograph and be ready to use your fingers to work any extra fabric down.

I'm glad you'll be quilting it with a friend, you can give each other moral support! I'm sure it will be beautiful when done.

I had a customer's quilt once that she said she knew it was a mess but to quilt as best I could. It was a large star(can't remember name) that puckered up in the middle. I used fluffy batting and added a small amount of additional batting where the pucker was the worst. It came out pretty good and she was very happy at the way it turned out.
I used a large, swirly pantograph to quilt it.

Congrats on the finish! amazing pattern. Love Edyta!

Spray starch and a steam iron can take out a lot of slack. Good luck!

I think you should block it before you sandwich it, to quilt it. Soak in the bathtub w/ a mild soap or Synthrapol. Blot and roll up in a large beach towel. Spread out on a flat surface you can pin into. I use the back of my foam design wall, made from pink insulation boards. Or some use their carpet, but lay down a clean sheet first. Pin (use sturdy pins or T-pins) to keep it in place and pull if you need to to get those wrinkles out. Let air dry. You can aim a fan at it to speed the drying. When dry, then sandwich and quilt it. I block many of my quilts that are meant to hang on a wall after they are quilted, before squaring up and finishing the edges. This makes them lay flat on the wall.

I blocked a top that had too many waves in it to consider being able to quilt them out. I did the blocking method and it worked great. Ripples gone.

The quilts with the most ripples are usually the ones I hand quilt since I can put each section as I go along in the frame and it has a bit of the earlier section in the hoop when you reposition to a new area. My experience is that I ended up with little to no rippling by the time the quilt is finished.