From one longarmer to another,,,, WELL SAID!

No argument here! So far I've only done my own quilts, however, one of the members on this board has a quilt in route for me to quilt. My first customer quilt! But, from what I've done so far, & seeing other quilts on other frames, I know of what you speak to be the truth. I know that from quilting on my longarm I've become more conscientious of my own quilting. Your tips & suggestions are right on!

Well stated. We all need to make the best possible top whether we send it out or quilt it ourselves. You have provided great quidelines

Your info is great. I am new to longarming & have my own machine. I am only on my 7th quilt, but I am already seeing what you are talking about with the seams & wavy borders. I am very careful to get my borders on straight with no extra inches anywhere & the last two have had issues. Not bad...maybe an extra inch in 70 inches, but enough to get my attention. After all, I thought I had it perfect. lol Another thing I have found....the outside seams on the quilt top really need to be backstitched. I have had more than one that wanted to open up. Because I am a semi-perfectionist, I have been cutting my borders 1 to 2 inches wider to allow for a seam disruption, but I know that most piecers wouldn't even think of that. I am lucky. It's my long arm & my quilt. I can do what I want with it.

Another thing.... originally when I started piecing, I was very careful to make sure that a seam was ironed one direction all the way. Well, I have done a couple of quilt tops with a lot of seams & have found that if the seam turns it isn't as dramatic a difference as I thought it would be. And sometimes, you have to do it! For me that turn just seems to quilt right in & leave no problems. After some of these comments, I know that if I do a Kaleidoscope quilt, I will free motion all of it, probably making the center of these seam intensive blocks as a no-sew zone...

FYI...being from the Deep South, I am a big fan of Warm & Natural batting. It is light weight, relatively easy to find & seems to "shrink" (I read the stuff about the stretching of the fabric..that was very interesting.) the same as the fabrics & the overall quilting looks good, even if a beginner does it. That slight poofiness it has does hide a multitude of sins. I have found that if I need a seam in the backing, I do try to do it offcenter, that way it doesn't compete with a block seam that might be right down the middle. I use the 1/2 inch seam & iron my seams open. There is so much to learn about long arm quilting that has nothing to do with the long arm. I am grateful for all these posts about the do's & don'ts & what works & what doesn't. Keep it up!!!!!

Way to go, Crashnquilt---very well said.

I, for one, found this to be very informative and reasonable. Sounds like an EXPERT - as in, "been there done that"! Thank you for climbing up on that soapbox.

A question - If a back MUST be pieced, would a pieced back with HORIZONTAL seams (i.e. parallel to the poles) be a better layout for the LAQer?

Thank you for this very informative post! I usually quilt my own tops on my DSM - but I see this as valuable information for anyone. I may send out a top to a LArmer in the future - and it is good to be aware of what I can do to make my top better and less likely to cause problems. Very interesting about fabric and how it is made. Like and bookmarked! :thumbup:

Thanks for all the interesting information on fabric behavior. Now that I know, I will watch out for the above mentioned pitfalls.

Great article! Thanks for sharing!!