Long Arm Machine Quilting - A Visual Guide

Step 1 - Quilt Sandwich or QTBB (cutie baby?)

For this you need your quilt top, your batting and your backing.  Both the batting and the backing should be 2" on each side, or 4" longer and wider than your quilt top.

quilt top

quilt back

Step 2 - Mounting aka "Giddy-up"

Back first... printed side down !  I will not admit to the number of times I have attached the backing print side up, or in the case of a directional print, with everyone facing the wrong way. Happily thus far I have not started a quilt before I realized my error.

attaching back to long arm rollers

next the batting

and the quilt top

Step 3 - Quilting - Stitchin' with a Mission

Machine baste three layers together along the top (or the side in this case seeing as I am making a vertical quilting pattern on this quilt) then commence with the stitchin'

basting stitches along the top (side in this case)

Step 4 - Removal - Where do we go from here?

Once quilting is finished, the quilt is removed from the rollers

Step 5 - Trimming - Square it Up

Trimming is most easily done with a table, free from all stuff that can be knocked off in the process of wrestling the quilt around (say like a glass of wine, no one wants a wine stain on their quilt!), a nice long ruler and a rotary cutter with a SHARP blade to get through the layers with ease.

Step 6 - Binding - Icing on the Cake, did someone say CAKE?

The binding in this quilt was attached to the back and flipped to the front, pinned down and machine stitched. If you prefer to hand finish your binding, the binding is attached to the front of the quilt and flipped to the back where it can be stitched in place.

prepare and attach binding

Step 7 - Done and Dusted :)

any questions?  ittilybits@gmail.com