'Tis the Season - II

Have you attempted to quilt a quilt AFTER the edges are finished?   

"Pre-binding" a quilt is my favorite technique when tying a quilt, especially baby quilts or charity quilts.  This is also a good treatment for other small projects like this tree skirt ↑ with all its odd angles!  See a full tutorial: Pre-binding

We use tacks to anchor the finished edges to my mother's old quilt frame.  Then when it's all tied, pop the tacks off and the quilt is done!!  Here's a picture of my then-16-year-old as he tied quilts for a local charity.  

If I want to machine-quilt either on a home machine or on a longarm, I've found that the edges can be a bit... "ruffly".  That is because the actual quilting takes up fabric.  Here are my TOP 5 TIPS for quilting a quilt with pre-bound edges.  

   1)  The technique seems to work best on smaller quilts, baby quilts, wall hangings, table runners...

   2)  Keep the quilt straight/taut and edges aligned while quilting.

          a)  If quilting on a home machine, PIN-BASTE every 3 inches.
          b)  If using a longarm machine to quilt, mount quilt to the leaders that will provide the least "rolling".  I also anchor the sides.  I use clamps, but you could also pin muslin strips to the quilt sides to keep it straight.

On this Baby Bullseye quilt, I pinned and clamped the scallops.

   3)  Use quilting motifs that are a little larger and looser than 1/4" echo/stipple/super-quilting.

   4)  Keep the quilting at least 1/2" to 1" away from the outer edge.

   5)  Keep quilt flat by using a low-loft batting (such as Hobbs 80/20) 

For this odd-angle pre-bound Star Medallion Tree Skirt, I quilted it on the longarm.  I simply found a straight edge to pin it to the leaders, and clamped the side triangles to keep it taut as I quilted the sections. 

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When those areas were quilted, I pinned and clamped to keep the unquilted sections straight and taut, but not overly stretched as to distort the quilt. 

Worked great!  

Can you see how I quilt my feathers?
Chalk a center spine (cheap school chalk will easily brush off)
Quilt teardrop shapes on each side of the chalked spine.

Looks festive for my daughter and her new husband's first Christmas!

STAR MEDALLION TREE SKIRT

Happy Quilting!

'Tis the Season! A Tutorial

Tis the season for sharing!  As the countdown to Christmas begins, how about a couple of sewing/quilty tips?

Christmas Clock !

Today, I wanted to share my quick finish on an odd-angle-edged quilt, such as this tree skirt.  You may remember seeing it here: Ho-Ho-Hop.   You can find the pattern at my Etsy Shop HERE.

I "pre-bound" the edges using an Envelope finish or Knife-Edge finish rather than a binding.  Here's how:

1)  PIECE the quilt backing at least 1" longer and wider than your quilt top.

Lay the quilt top right sides together with untrimmed backing and PIN well,
then STITCH all the way around the quilt top, pivoting at corners
and overlapping the beginning stitches.  I used 1/4" seam allowance
so as not to cut off my star points on the quilt top.

2)  TRIM backing slightly larger than the quilt top to grade the seams.
I trimmed mine at about 1/2" from the stitching line.

3)  Lay stitched quilt top over batting and PIN well.

4)  STITCH along the same stitching lines used to sew the top and backing
together, pivoting at the inside and outside corners.

5)  TRIM batting a bit larger than the backing; 3/4" to 1" from the stitches.

6)  Next, SLICE your tree skirt as indicated in the pattern,
and cut out about a 4" circle in the center to fit around your tree.
CLIP inner corners to (but not through) the stitches.

7)  PIN each sliced edge together and STITCH.  

I guess you could bind those cut edges, but why?

8)  TRIM the corners.

9)  TURN quilt right side out through center cutout, then PRESS edges flat.
Use this cool No-Clip Corner technique to turn the 90-degree angled corners.

10)  BIND the inner circle with a BIAS BINDING strip,
leaving enough length on the ends to tie a bow.
I fussy-pieced the backing to make it a Reversible Tree Skirt.

OK, now that that's done, HOW DID I QUILT IT??  Tune in tomorrow for PART II!  Meanwhile, I'm off to sing my little heart out at a Christmas Concert.  ♫ Glo- o-o-o-o -o- o-o-o-o -o- o-o-o-o -o-ria! ♪♫

MORE TUTORIALS

Quilting a pre-bound/odd-angle quilt

Quilting It Out or "Can This Quilt Be Saved?"

Sometimes a quilter will bring me a quilt and ask me to "just quilt it out..."

Quilt width =

 Border width =

Solution:  (I call it "Quilt Wrangling")
Pin border edge to correct quilt width measurement.

 Quilt body lies flat, borders are waving hello.

Pin-baste to distribute the difference, then stitch to baste the edges, about a scant 1/4" from the edge.  

Repeat the process for the sides.  Smooth out quilt body to lie flat, pin to anchor where it needs to be.

Pin-baste again, working in the border to distribute bulk.

Yes.  I stitched over the pins to baste the edges down.  I know.  Naughty.  But I did change the needle to quilt the rest. ;)  

Stitched in the ditch...then quilted feathers and leafy vines to work in the bulk.  The curvy back-and-forth shape is the perfect motif to hide excess border baggage, don't you think?    

The more bulk to work in, the more dense the quilting.  

Success!

Here's another sample:

Silk purse.

Prevention:  Measure, Measure, Measure!

Here's the true solution to borders that wave in the breeze ~ an excerpt from my Preparing Your Quilt for Machine-Quilting DOs and DON'Ts list:

Take the time to accurately measure and apply your borders.  Some things can be "quilted out", however, you will be happier with your results (and save your quilter some angst!) if you take a few extra steps:  

• Find side dimensions of quilt by measuring lengthwise through the quilt center, (not along the edges, since they may have stretched).  Take three measurements and average them to determine the length to cut your side borders.  Cut both borders the same measurement.
• Pin  each side border to quilt at the ends and the center, then pin every few inches, easing in any fullness if necessary.  Press seam toward borders.
• Find top/bottom dimensions of your quilt by measuring across the quilt and side borders.  Cut both borders the same measurement.
• Attach top and bottom borders to quilt, pinning as you did side borders.  Press seams toward outer edge of quilt.  
  Repeat process for multiple borders.

Happy Quilting!