Hello everybody!
My husband & I do longarm quilting. Recently we have had some tops that were -- not sure how to describe them. They were very friendly, kind of waving at you when you try to quilt them! Also some other problems with them. So, we are offering a class here to show the ladies what they should try to do with their tops before bringing them to be quilted.
Does anyone have any suggestions for class topics, besides the obvious, that you would want to learn in order to have your tops quilted by a longarm quilter?
We plan a half day class with lunch thrown in. And we DO plan on having fun while doing it. LOL
Thanks for anything you can think of.
Linda

Good for you. Lucky ladies. What an opportunity for them. Very good of you and your husband to do this.

these are some of the best ladies to be around! They always bring lots of fun when they come up here! we just need them to do a bit more with their tops in order to not have a wonky quilt.

One issue my mom who is a long arm quilter runs into often is the backing being too small for the quilt. You could teach about the proper size for backings and battings to be before bringing them to a long armer. Another is binding tips. Its the perfect way to explain that if the borders lay flat then it will be easier to bind the quilt later without having any tucks in the border.

Wow, awesome!

Craftybear

I'd cover the importance of pressing at each step, squaring up at each step, how to properly measure for borders and how to ease them in if necessary. Maybe talk about the importance of consistent seam allowances (even if it's not a quarter inch!) too. Wonkiness grows exponentially from the center out! You're doing a very kind and thoughtful thing.

WOW! Great tips!
Yes, consistent seams are important even if it's not 1/4". It really doesn't matter what they are if you're comfortable with sewing them bigger, go for it. as long as they are all the same. And pressing - very important to getting a top that will lay flat.
And we've got the ones that the backing isn't big enough. We tell them ahead of time what they need to be but sometimes when they just drop them off & run uh-oh! We give them a call & tell them what we can do & that they may lose some of their borders.
Keep these suggestions coming! they are great.

Around here most longarmers also request that you put a safety pin at to top of both the quilt top and the backing. It saves them from having to guess which way is up or spend time trying to contact the quilt maker. It also protects them if they guess wrong! If you also request the pin, remind them in the class. If you don't request it, you may want to start?

You mean you can't just 'quilt it out'? LOL

Can you make up some samples, about 2' square, to show the differences between a good job & a poor job. Also a visual sample of exactly why you need the back larger than the front.

LOL We can do a very good job but there's some things that can't be fixed!
The samples are a good idea. thx