Preparing Your Quilt
A little preparation before your quilt is loaded onto the longarm can make a big difference in the finished result. These guidelines will help your quilt load smoothly and give me the best opportunity to create beautiful, even quilting.
Preparing Your Quilt Top
Please check the outer edges of your quilt top for open seams, especially if your quilt does not have borders. If needed, baste approximately 1/8″ from the edge to secure those seams before quilting. These stitches will be hidden when the binding is added.
Make sure your quilt top is clean, pressed, and lies as flat as possible. Check for loose seams, excess fullness, and wavy borders before sending or bringing your quilt to me.
Clipping Threads
Please trim loose threads from the front and back of your quilt top, especially when using light-colored fabrics where darker threads may show through. I will take care of any stray threads I notice while quilting whenever possible.
Preventing Wavy Borders
Borders that are too long for the quilt top can create fullness, puckers, or pleats during quilting. For the best results, measure your quilt through the center and cut your borders to the correct length rather than simply sewing on a long strip and trimming off the excess.
Your finished quilt top should lie reasonably flat before it is brought in for quilting.
Backing
Your backing must extend 4–6 inches beyond the quilt top on all four sides. If you are providing your own batting, it should also extend 4–6 inches beyond the quilt top on all four sides.
Please make sure your backing is clean, pressed, and squared as much as possible. If your backing needs to be pieced, press the seams open to reduce bulk.
Wide-back fabric is a great option because it can eliminate the need for piecing the backing.
Sheets can sometimes be used for backing, but they are not my first choice. If you would like to use a sheet, please choose a good-quality sheet and check with me first to make sure it will work well for longarm quilting.
Need backing? I also carry Premium Muslin and can prepare the backing for your quilt. See my Quilt Pricing page for current pricing.
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A Few Final Things
Pressing — Please have your quilt top and backing pressed and ready for quilting. I will do my best to work with any fullness or problem areas and give your quilt a beautiful finished appearance.
Embellishments — Please add buttons, beads, charms, or other raised embellishments after your quilt has been quilted, as these can interfere with the longarm machine.
My Longarm — All quilting is completed on my Gammill Statler computerized longarm quilting machine using high-quality OMNI thread. I have a large collection of edge-to-edge quilting patterns available and am continually adding new designs.
Sharing Your Finished Quilt — I love sharing photos of completed quilts! With your permission, I may feature photos of your finished quilt on the Quilting By Kyrie website or social media. Just let me know if you would prefer that your quilt not be photographed or shared.