Hmmmm mayber this is why Ihave had an occasional problem with the border. Going to make sure I have the border fabric on top of the quilt whwen sewing on. Love what we can learn with this group! Hugs to all you helpers.

"There are rules to quilting" Worst thing ever said to me! I believed it for a minute, then remembered what my DGGM told me when she taught me how to quilt........ the only rule to quilting is, never sew/ quilt when you are tired. Quilting is an art, everyone has their own version of it, their own taste, their own message they are sending out. There are no set rules, be creative, be yourself!

Wow, this is one great discussion. I am new to quilting.... my friend suckered me into it, but hasn't had a moment to teach me anything. So, I just bought some fabric and had a go at it. I started small, with a pillow top, a couple of mats for the kitty to sleep on, and two rag quilts. I have purchased fabric for my first pieced quilt which I designed, but now I'm worried!

First, I'm afraid I won't have enough fabric. The gals a the LQS pulled out their calculator and worked it out for me.

Secondly, I purchased 108" fabric for the backing, and they tore it! Now what do I do??

Third question... I have been washing my fabric first, but what do I do about jelly rolls? Will there be anything left to sew with??

You are all THE BEST!! At least now when I put borders on, they won't be wavy. ;o)

I didn't know that Jo Anns taught their clerks to ask what we are making when cutting our fabric. I always thought it was a question that they never had an interest in. Sometimes I don't care to say what I am making and that it is just for my stash or what ever. Next time I will know it is just training small talk.

OHHHHHHH MY GOD!!!! Seriously.. my LQS gave me this advice and now I am almost 1/2 way through my very first quilt and now its going to look like crap! Thanks! Guess I know for the future!

It's perfectly fine to not wash your fabric first. It will not look like crap.

yepper use instinct....go with it....when u change youre trying to change yourself.............hmmmmmmmm maybe make that a quote..lol

Yup! I had that happen to me. Another thing that was said to me is "you don't need that much fabric". I had to go back for more and someone else has already bought fabric off the bolt so I just barely made it.

I often put the border fabric on the bottom when I am sewing and never have wavy borders, I think it's all in the measuring and how off the quilt is befre you frame it. If I sew on the quilt side I can be extra careful about points that get chopped off.

I used to wash everything and so now I have about half washed and half not. It all goes together wonderfully, no problems either way. I also do not use starch and it's fine.

It's fine not to wash your fabric first as long as you're using all the same kind of fabric e.g. all 100% cotton, no problem. If you're mixing fabrics (cotton top, flannel back) you'd want to wash the flannel. Or if crazy quilting using different fabrics then I would wash them first if possible. (Quite a change of view for me since I came into this board thinking always wash... because I did dressmaking, where the size of the finished object is critical and the fabrics are usually mixed fibres that shrink at different rates).