Preparing for Quilting ....

Remember this that Tall Handsome made for me..... so I don't have to grovel on the floor...

(you can read it HERE)

I thought I would just show you my way of preparing a top for quilting

I have to tell you I was very nervous when I first decided to do this myself

Gather your supplies....

Masking tape

Bulldog clips

Quilt top, backing and wadding

Quilting Pins (the curve in them makes life a lot easier than ordinary safety pins)

just to show how quick and easy this is my starting time

aren't those gecko's cute?

starting with the backing.... give it a press

lay it on the table RIGHT SIDE DOWN

and clip to the sides where it reaches over the edge...

pull taught and clip on the other side

place tape on the edges that do not go over the edge of the table

pull taught and tape the other side

Place the wadding on

(you can give this a press too if you want - I don't)

smooth over using a ruler

going from the centre outwards

carefully remove the clips one at a time while you hold the fabric taught and reclip to include the wadding

do exactly the same all the way around

you do not remove the tape... just add more on the wadding layer

place the pressed quilt top RIGHT SIDE UP

ensure the quilt top fits within the backing and wadding

there should be a couple of inches on each side

(when you are doing your own quilting 2" is enough)

 don't forget to check on the sides that overhang....

it is a real pain to pin and then discover the backing is not big enough!!

smooth with a ruler from centre outwards

then clip and tape as with the backing and wadding

these next series show the difference it makes to smoothing properly

placed on top and smoothed out with the hand to get the quilt settled in the right place before starting with the ruler

  smoothed with the ruler

 you can see that bump on the bottom left

that is where the quilt is laying over a clip

taped and clipped taught

now you are ready to pin

just pop in and out

I pin at about 4 inch intervals

have in mind how you are going to quilt so that you can pin away from those lines

- on this quilt I was going in straight diagonal lines

I just put the pins in and then go over the whole top at the end closing the pins

once you have closed the pins just crouch down and look at it with your eyes at table height

you can quicky find that pin that isn't closed

before your finger does! 

 once it is all pinned you will need to take off the tape and clip... and then move the quilt carefully and stretch and tape any overhanging edges 

that is hard to explain but if you had this over the edge:

you need to move the (mostly pinned) quilt and stretch, smooth and tape these edges and pin them... in just the same way...

 this picture shows the pinned part and the not pinned part

soon it will all be pinned - 35 minutes

quilt as desired....

then of course the binding will be added

 I'd love to know if you have any good tips for quilting  

I found last week there is a special foot for quilting in the ditch - spreads out the seams so you don't go off seam so often

I never knew there was such a thing

I think I NEEEEEEEED it

Hoping you have a wonderful week