Wavy edges
 

I was careful to square up a recently quilted baby quilt before adding the binding. I was also careful not to stretch the binding as I sewed it on. But now with the binding on and sewn on both sides, the edges of the quilt ripple. Does this mean I need to "block" the quilt? (I'm not sure how to do this) Should I add more quilting to the outer border? What will flatten it?

before adding the quilting, i would try blocking it... dampen it thouroughly and pin it flat [to carpet or bed] and let it air dry.

Yes, try blocking. However wavy edges usually mean that your borders are larger than they should be. Did you measure the quilt through the center and a couple of other places and cut your borders to size before attaching them?

It there is no quilting on the edges - and heavy quilting in the borders - would that pull up the center of the borders (shrink them) and leave the edges "bigger" - then the edges would be ruffly compared to the rest of the quilt?

This might be the problem. If you added a bit more binding than necessary in your caution not to stretch it, the excess would cause the ripples. On a baby quilt, as little as 1/4 to 1/2" extra binding on a side will be enough to make the edges wavy.

I would try dampening it and pinning it flat as QuiltnNan suggested, but if that doesn't work, removing the binding and redoing it would be my suggestion, this time not worrying about stretching the binding.

Edited to add: a picture might help determine if the issue is quilting density or something else.

Was it bias binding? Or straight grain binding? And, did you use a walking foot? If no walking foot, was the quilt next to the feed dogs and the binding on top? By wavy edges, do you mean the binding is wavy?

I agree with other posters. I do think your comment about being careful not to stretch the binding might be the problem. I do not sew binding on with a walking foot, and I sew with the binding on top, but I am careful to *stretch* the binding taut as I sew, lay it on the quilt edge, then finger pin them together about 5" in front of the presser foot. This ensures that the presser foot does not stretch the binding in front of it as I sew.

I should mention that this is with straight-grain binding. When I am stretching the binding taut, it is a double layer of straight-grain binding so all I am doing is stretching both layers of binding evenly along the grain. If I do not do this, then the presser foot is likely stretching the top layer of the binding, but not the bottom layer. When this happens, when you go to turn the binding to the other side and sew to finish, you are actually sewing in rippled binding -- because one layer of binding was stretched and the other was not.

Just to recap, I stretch the doubled layer of binding out and up in front of the presser foot (with needle down through all the layers, of course), then lay the binding down on the quilt and finger pin it in place about 5" in front of the presser foot while I sew to the finger pinning.

With bias binding I would do the same; however, because bias can stretch too much, I heavily starch the binding fabric before I cut the binding. That way it won't stretch too much when I pull it out taut in front of the presser foot.

If there are ripples in the binding, even if you are successful in getting them out by blocking the quilt, chances are they will come right back with the next washing. Instead of removing the binding, you can try blocking the quilt, then adding decorative stitching as a design element over the binding. The decorative stitching will keep the ripples under control in future washings.

Don't think I have had that problem. I cut my binding WOF and hold the binding taunt as I sew.

If you do block it, make sure you use rust-proof pins!!

I, too, would suggest blocking the quilt to remove the wavy binding. To block the quilt, I pin it flat onto the carpet and then lightly spritz the top. Let it dry for a day or two and then remove the quilt. It should be flat by then. Hope it works.

I would toss it in the wash and see how it comes out. It is a baby quilt and I doubt the baby cares. It will get used and washed a lot. It is made with love and that means a lot.

I don't really know how to help you now but I know how to avoid it in the future. Always measure the 2 sides of the quilt, take the average of the 2 sides, and cut the border to the correct length. Same for the other two sides. By doing this, you should not have those wavy borders.

Follow dunster's great advice, to measure carefully, and I have the best luck with borders if I sew them on with the border fabric on the bottom, and the quilt center face down on top. The way the feed dogs work, this also helps prevent ripples.

Exactly what I was thinking.

YOU NEED TO STRETCH THE BINDING. If the borders are just a little too large, that can be corrected by putting a little tug on the binding as you sew it on. I always give a little tug to the binding as it is lain onto the quilt and hold it as I sew it. A length-of-fabric binding can be tugged harder than width-of-fabric. Remember, just a little tug.

yes, from my experience the heavy quilting does affect the square of the quilt.