!!!Stupid Question Alert!! Washing quilts before a entering in a show
#11
Senior Member
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Usually in my sewing room
Posts: 813
ok -- well lots of varying opinions on this topic. I think, because I have no doubt my quilt will not be accepted into the show, I will go ahead and wash it and block it as described.
Reason I say this is that I'm a new quilter and don't have a lot of FMQ experience but I thought I'd make a quilt as 'perfectly' as I can. At least I can learn from the process of planning, organizing, cutting, sewing, quilting, finishiing, and filling out the application, submitting application, with pics etc.
Worst they can say is no. Right?
Reason I say this is that I'm a new quilter and don't have a lot of FMQ experience but I thought I'd make a quilt as 'perfectly' as I can. At least I can learn from the process of planning, organizing, cutting, sewing, quilting, finishiing, and filling out the application, submitting application, with pics etc.
Worst they can say is no. Right?
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Long Island, New York
Posts: 1,063
I entered a quilt in the AQS modern quilt challenge. I washed and dried and then blocked it before pics. It was accepted. For my quilt it was important to the final look that it be washed and dried. I also think quilting looks a bit better after a little refreshing. But that is JMO. I do know that quilts photographed for publication are not typically washed and dried first. I think it all depends on the quilt, style, maker, etc.
#13
I don't wash show quilts, but I do block them. That's critical to have them hang their best.
A good book to take a look at if you're intereested in showing quilts, both from the actual quilting side and from the showing side, is Karen McTavish's Quilting for Show: A Practical Guide to Successful Competition Quilting. It covers binding, sleeves, burying threads, blocking, trimming, what judges want, what their comments mean, many quilting tips, plus a lot more. It comes with a DVD as well.
Good luck on your entry, Stitch!
A good book to take a look at if you're intereested in showing quilts, both from the actual quilting side and from the showing side, is Karen McTavish's Quilting for Show: A Practical Guide to Successful Competition Quilting. It covers binding, sleeves, burying threads, blocking, trimming, what judges want, what their comments mean, many quilting tips, plus a lot more. It comes with a DVD as well.
Good luck on your entry, Stitch!
#17
It depends on the quilt. I entered a quilt made out of 30's fabric and I washed it because I wanted the crinkly look. It won an honorable mention. Wall hangings I usually do not wash but most of the time I do wash the bed quilts. I'm a longarmer and the washing seems to inbed the quilting stitch a bit and I think makes it look nicer. I do not block my quilts.
#18
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Usually in my sewing room
Posts: 813
Mary --
When you press your quilt - how to you avoid flattening out the puffy look of the quilt or the wrinkley look of the quilt if it has been washed and blocked?
Stitch124
When you press your quilt - how to you avoid flattening out the puffy look of the quilt or the wrinkley look of the quilt if it has been washed and blocked?
Stitch124
#19
Power Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southern USA
Posts: 16,032
I have entered a few shows and block those quilts. I don't wet the whole quilt when blocking. I wet about four inches around the quilt and pin the quilt taunt. My quilt top and backing are starched and pressed before quilting.
#20
A good book to take a look at if you're intereested in showing quilts, both from the actual quilting side and from the showing side, is Karen McTavish's Quilting for Show: A Practical Guide to Successful Competition Quilting. It covers binding, sleeves, burying threads, blocking, trimming, what judges want, what their comments mean, many quilting tips, plus a lot more. It comes with a DVD as well.
Additionally, on the video, she shows how she preps a quilt. She at least wet it, or possibly washed it, and pins it while still damp to styrofoam board to finish drying at the size she wants. (Blocking, I assume) You see her actually crawling around on the floor in the video!
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