Preparing your quilt top for longarming is vital to making a beautiful quilt. There are only a few things you need to do to ensure there are no issues when putting your top on the frame and promptly returning a beautiful finished work to you.

  1. Press your quilt top to ensure the seams are all flat. Unless you are getting custom quilting, you don’t need to worry about the seams facing one direction, but that will be vital if you want to stitch in the ditch. Don’t forget to press your quilt back. I will ensure there are no creases from getting the backing to me, but I will have to charge if it is overly creased.

  2. Make sure all seams are secure. Nothing is worse than catching an open seam in the middle of the quilt (or the edge) with the foot of the longarm and ripping a quilt top. I have never done it, but I have seen the results. Please make sure there are no open seams. If your quilt has piecing on the edges, stay stitch (1/8th of an inch) around the edge.

  3. Make sure the backing and batting (if you provide them) are at least 8 inches longer and wider than your quilt top. There will be an additional charge if I have to attach leader fabric to the top, bottom, or sides of your backing to load it on the frame.

  4. If your backing is pieced, please remember to trim off the selvedge. It is not woven the same as the rest of the fabric and can cause stitch quality issues.

  5. Trim any loose threads on the quilt top.