One of the ladies that I quilt for thought she had extra fabric because the lady at the LQS told her so. She did not measure it and square it up. I failed her, I also took the LQS owner's word for it. When I got to the bottom of the quilt it was over 6 inches short. i called my friend and told her, she said fix it however I wanted to. I was lucky enough to have fabric that was part of her patriotic theme and added my fabric to the bottom and then reloaded it on my longarm to finish the pattern. It actually looked better with the pieced backing, Thank God!
Whew, got by that one by the skin of your teeth, hmmm......Ginny
Elizabeth and Judy Lee,
Isn't that the worst! I have had this happen twice. I do alot of quilting for a friend and she has heard me say "make sure you have enough batting and backing" more than once. Anyway, she brought a quilt, and because she knows, I didn't chk her backing. My fault. As I was getting to the last block row and I was going to stitch across the bottom and remove the pins.....not enough backing. Since she was here with me when I unpinned and unzipped it from the frame, I gave it to her to cut and add more backing. Needless to say, she has made SURE there is enough backing ever since. LOL Piecers don't realize that those extra 4" all the way around the quilt are crucial when longarm quilting. I never knew when I just pieced how important it was. I always had enough but I know I must have given my longarmer some difficult times with uneven backing. I have since apologized to her. As longarmers it's our responsiblity to pass this information on to those who piece.
Something funny that happened with the same friend during that same time frame as this short back incident. She had brought a flannel backing (I can't recall if the front was regular cotton or flannel). This backing was the EXACT same size as the top and I told her. This wasn't going to work and even offered her some flannel to sew to the back. She just said to go ahead and quilt it. Well, I had to stretch and tug that backing to get it quilted. No place to put clamps. Just happy it was a baby quilt. When I took that quilt off the frame it bounced back like a rubber band! I laughed and laughed. Even with flat batting it puffed up like a marshmellow. Another reason she has made sure she brings enough backing. Glad she was there for the show. LOL
Thank goodness my sisiter was with me. I told her we HAD to square up the backing but she refused to let me said lets wing it, because it was just big enough. We are both fabric misers and always have made our backing JUST big engough. It does not matter on a hme machine. I have done at least 30 quilts that way. Now with my long arem I by the 108 wide fabric so I don't have to piece and worry. I wanted to rip out the stiching buiy new backing and start agin but Sue is just going to adding a strip to the bottom and finish the border herself.
By the way here is a picture of my very first long arm quilt
Elizabeth,
I'm glad you shared a picture! That is a beautiful quilt! You both did a fantastic job.
Romona, Actually this quilt I pieced and quilted. I had a dream about what it should look like hence the name Dream Quilt
Nice job Eliazabeth!
Hey RamonaC, Did you get to look at the quilt after it was washed? The shrinkage was probably interesting and picture worthy, LOL!
Judylee
Holy Buckets!!! I made a large turning twenty quilt using 30s reproduction fabrics for my mom. The piecing went smoothly... got it on the frame without a hitch... quilting along to my tunes rolling the quilt along and all of a sudden I ran out of batting!!!! Plenty of backing, still one more turn of the rod before I see the end of the quilt... what the heck happened??? I stopped to look at what was going on. I had to piece my batting to make it the right size and I suddenly realized that I had put one of the sides of the batting at the top of the quilt. Now what?!? Any suggesstions? I haven't removed the quilt from the frame. I can't believe I did this!
Georgia,
Well, hopefully you have some of the same batting. Just unpin the top and lay in batting long enough to finish the quilt. It will stay in place with the quilting. If you want you can hand baste it together to keep it in place until that section gets quilted.
Judy Lee,
I'm sure you're right. Picture worthy for sure! LOL
Elizabeth: Sunch a learning curve. Keep at it you will get it.
Granny M
Everyone, I am so grateful for the support and help you all have given. Trust me I will check everything you all have suggested. I keep thinking there is just some little thing I am doing that is causing this problem. Just really glad you all share with me, so I don't feel so dumb. I taught myself how to quilt with videos and books, I am not sure that wquld work with the long arm as I have felt really frustrated at times. I am really glad I have all the support and sharing from you Ladies. Thank you much
Someone asked it the birds nest were at the start, not always sometimes it has been in the middle. I try to make sure I pull the bobbin thread up til I feel resistance. Surely this will fall in place.
RamonaC is correct, Georgia,
Just but another piece of batting up against the other, no need to baste because the quilting will hold it in place.Just roll your quilt back to the beginning and cut it to size. Use the extra batting on the side as you end piece if possible. That way it will be the same batting and no left overs.LOL!
Lookk at me I am FMQing on my longarm. This quilt is #3 to longarm it is a wedding quilt for my sister. Will have serveral different motifs. I got the squares for this quilt at a thrift store. It is a Cafferty mystrey quilt. All the pieces were there with the instructions I jsut had to put them together, Only paid $15.00!
PS I found the straight line work to be easier WITHOUT the ruler.
Graqnny M How are things going for you. Judylee thanks for all your help and support.