Sunday Shorts 1 - Preparing your Quilt Top

Check out the videos here to help you understand how to prepare your quilt top ready for quilting. I used my iphone to make these Sunday Shorts and I haven't learnt how to edit the films yet so they aren't the best of quality I'm afraid ...but hey-ho I'm sure they will get better. Let me know what you think of them and thanks for watching.

Preparing your quilt top for quilting.

Take your time to spend 30 minutes or so to clean and tidy up your top, remove stray threads and check for any needles or pins that may inadvertently got trapped in a seam allowance. Clip thread tails an trim back any darker fabric in the seam allowance that may shadow through to the top and make sure all your seams are pressed in the right direction.

Flipped Seams If you find some of your seams have flipped open or got caught under the pressor foot spend a little extra time to unpick and re-sew these seams. Its a nuisance I know but truly its worth while.

Flipped Seams Part 1

Flipped Seams Part 2

Flipped Seams Part 3

Stay Stitch the Outer Edge Then finally consider sewing a narrow stay stitch all around the quilt top. This extra step will help to keep your quilt square and prevent it from stretching. It will also keep pieced borders in check and prevent them popping open too. It takes less than 5 minutes to sew a line of stitching 1/8 away from the edge on a kingsize quilt and could potentially save you money if your quilter charges to clean up a quilt top prior to quilting ...so why not save your self some extra expense ... your quilter will thank you for it too!

Finally give your quilt top a good press. Its now ready for quilting.