Making this list and checking it twice!

I want to give you the best experience possible working with me and so I have some hints and tricks that will make working with me or any other longarmer easy-peasy. I want to be able to provide you with quality results on your quilt and this step will help to ensure that you and I make a great team.

☐ Make sure you have enough backing and batting (and pre-made binding if you choose that service too)

This might be the most important thing you do for your longarmer to ensure that they have everything that they need to give you the best results possible. Both your batting and your backing need to be four inches bigger on ALL sides than your quilt top. This means that your backing and batting both need to be eight inches wider and eight inches longer than your quilt top. Please measure twice prior to sending in your quilt. This is mission critical because it is absolutely heartbreaking for me to reach the bottom of your quilt and not have enough backing to finish your quilt or to not have enough backing outside of the stitch line to ‘hold’ onto on the frame. I like to think of your backing as the foundation on what we build a great quilt on — and if your foundation is right, the quilting you get back from me is the best possible.

☐ Don’t Baste Your Quilt

All the layers of your quilt ‘sandwich’ will be attached to the quilt frame separately, so they all need to be separate when they’re sent to me.

☐ Mark the top of your quilt and the top of your backing

If your quilt and/or backing are directional, affix a safety pin to the top of each. I want to be sure to load your quilt correctly and have the pantograph that you choose be stitched out the way you envision it. If you want your panto stitched up and down your quilt rather than side to side, please let me know in the Extra! Extra! section of the Let’s Collaborate form.

☐ Ensure that your backing is square

If you have pieced your backing, just take a minute to ensure that the bottom, top, and sides are straight. It is always best if your top and backing both load straight onto the longarm. If at all possible I will load your quilt so that the seam is horizontal. Additionally, if you have pieced your backing, a 1/2” seam allowance is recommended and to press your seam(s) open is ideal.

☐ Trim up all excess threads

Check both the front, back, and edges of the quilt top for loose threads. This is important because if you have dark threads from a darker fabric that have unraveled and are behind a lighter coloured fabric, it is likely that these threads will be visible from the front of the quilt once it has been quilted. Those pesky threads like to sneak through to be visible when they think no one is looking or they like to pop up through the seams; trimming up those ‘extra’ threads beforehand will give your quilt and quilting the best results possible.

☐ Give your quilt top a good press

A nicely pressed quilt will load evenly and flat onto the machine and so your results will be the best possible.

☐ 1/8” Victory Lap/Stay Stitching

If your quilt is pieced right to the edge (i.e. doesn’t have a border) or if your blocks are on the bias — to ensure that your seams don’t separate at the edges or so that your quilt doesn’t warp when it’s loaded onto the longarm frame — I recommend that you stitch 1/8”-1/4” away from the edge on all sides with a ‘Victory Lap’.

☐ Warm and Cozy Backings

If you are electing to use a fuzzy blanket or a fuzzy fabric as your backing, I highly recommend that you use batting as well — this will help minimize the bearding (i.e. the fuzzies pulled through with each stitch) that you experience and give your quilt that extra bit of warmth. If you are using a fuzzy blanket, I require that all seams be cut off or be seam ripped to ensure that the difficulties of loading your backing are minimized and ensuring that your quilting is the best possible. Please measure the backing once the seams are removed to ensure that the backing still fits within the backing guideline of 4 inches on all sides (see point #1 above), that the edges are straight (not jagged), and the backing is still square (see point #4 above) .

☐ Let Me Know

If there is something special about this quilt or if you want me to look out for something or anything that you think I should know about your quilt, please share it with me. I want to ensure that your quilt receives the attention it deserves and that you get the results you want and sometimes that means that I don’t know what I don’t know, but I want to give you the best results possible, so anything important you want to share about your quilt, I will do my best to take into consideration as I load and work on your quilt. With us working together as a team, I’m sure that we’ll be able to give your quilt top life and send it into the world to live its best life.

If you are mailing your quilt to me:

I am more than happy to accept your quilt via the postal service or a courier if you are not a local quilter. If you are mailing your quilt to me, please ensure that your quilt top and backing are wrapped in plastic to protect against any elements that it may encounter on its journey. I also recommend that the quilt be shipped in a cardboard box that has been fully secured and clearly labelled with my mailing address. I know that we all trust the postal service to get us what we need, but I do live in the great, white North and so it is likely that the postal carrier or courier that you entrust your quilt with might encounter some inclement weather. I want your quilt to be safe and sound in its packaging as it comes to me. And as I send your quilt back to you, I will give it the same care and attention to make sure I do my best to get it back to you in prime condition.