Preparing your materials is a crucial starting step when you are starting a new quilt. You would not start an exciting new job in filthy attire, so why should your quilt be any different?
To get your quilt off to the best possible start, I have listed my pre-flight quilting checklist.
Read Any Instrutions
This is the most vital step before anything else, I learned this the hard way - which I'm going to tell you about later on.
The instructions will give you alerts about anything that may damage or affect the materials in the preparation process, so be sure you read all of the directions so you do not get caught out.
Washing
After you have read the instructions, your next stop is to clean the quilt. The instructions will let you know whether its safe to put in the machine or whether you need to hand wash it, as well as the temperature of water to use.
I was recently working on a green quilt design and did not go over the directions. As it seems, the particular dye they used for this material doesn't handle warm water well and the colours ran and faded in areas, so be vigilant and check!
Drying
Drying is one of the things that surprises numerous quilters. Some material does not react well to being put in bright sunlight shortly after washing.
More frequently, there are other materials that may get damaged if you put them into a dryer, so be sure you know what you're dealing with.
Ironing
Like drying, ironing is another step in which you can ruin a supremely good fabric. Materials like silk and polyester will burn or melt if you use an iron that is too hot.
There are too many materials to cover here, so in short if you're in doubt, put your iron on the lowest setting just to be safe.
When you're ironing, start from the center and push your iron out to the sides. Once the material is flat, run your iron over the sides to get rid of any small wrinkles and make it prepared for stitching seams.
If you follow these steps, your material will be prepped and ready to be included in any quilt, eliminating any likely problems with the fabric itself.
To get your quilt off to the best possible start, I have listed my pre-flight quilting checklist.
Read Any Instrutions
This is the most vital step before anything else, I learned this the hard way - which I'm going to tell you about later on.
The instructions will give you alerts about anything that may damage or affect the materials in the preparation process, so be sure you read all of the directions so you do not get caught out.
Washing
After you have read the instructions, your next stop is to clean the quilt. The instructions will let you know whether its safe to put in the machine or whether you need to hand wash it, as well as the temperature of water to use.
I was recently working on a green quilt design and did not go over the directions. As it seems, the particular dye they used for this material doesn't handle warm water well and the colours ran and faded in areas, so be vigilant and check!
Drying
Drying is one of the things that surprises numerous quilters. Some material does not react well to being put in bright sunlight shortly after washing.
More frequently, there are other materials that may get damaged if you put them into a dryer, so be sure you know what you're dealing with.
Ironing
Like drying, ironing is another step in which you can ruin a supremely good fabric. Materials like silk and polyester will burn or melt if you use an iron that is too hot.
There are too many materials to cover here, so in short if you're in doubt, put your iron on the lowest setting just to be safe.
When you're ironing, start from the center and push your iron out to the sides. Once the material is flat, run your iron over the sides to get rid of any small wrinkles and make it prepared for stitching seams.
If you follow these steps, your material will be prepped and ready to be included in any quilt, eliminating any likely problems with the fabric itself.
About the Author:
Interested in more green quilt design ideas? Then head on over to Jane Green's how to make a patchwork quilt site now!
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