How do I prevent this problem? (pics)

[quiltaholi_518]

Hi all,

I have had a couple of quilts do this on a mild level, but this is a king 106 sq. and the borders looked okay before I put it on. As it is rolling down I am getting more and more bulk on the edges. I have tried loosening the rest of the quilt to try and tighten up the edges, then I also tired to just roll the edges tighter and I think that is making the problem worse. So I try and ease in the bulk and fortunately I haven't made any pleats yets, but it will be a miracle if I get through it with out a couple.

My main question is, how do I tell if there is mild bulk in the borders that in a quilt this size can be a real problem, and if there is this bulk, what's the best way to ease that so it doesn't get worse and worse?

[Guest LA]

Hi Caron,

I think this happens to all of us at some point.

I always measure through the top, middle & bottom of the top & take note of those measurements before I load. Then I can for see the problem before it goes on my frame.

With that said, you are committed at this point. Are you turning the quilt for the side borders? If so, you might want to have those borders removed & cut it fit better to ensure that you will avoid these ripples.

Otherwise, I would call the customer & explain what is going on, maybe send her the picture. If she wants you to proceed, then just do the best you can & ease in the fullness with one hand while you quilt with the other!

Let us know how it goes Caron, I think you will be surprised at what you can get to "quilt out"!

Crossing my fingers for you!

[Grammie]

Caron this is why I don't like to Baste the sides. I prefer to pin so that I can work this out if necesarry.. Also I can't see if the edge of quilt is stay stitched. This helps prevent stretching on the leaders especially if the fabic is on the Bias. I also prefer turning when doing the Side borders but I have only had to do this 3 times so far. I haven't tried to do a separate border working down the quilt yet.

Besides FROGGING IS NO FUN!!!

I have had some tops that when rolled up on the Leader for TOP it is obvious due to loose edges on leader that I have some slack. I try to take up some of this slack as I work on the quilt top. I haven't had one that I felt warranted Returning but that day will come probly.

A perfectly squared Quilt top with a STAY stitch will load perfectly on the leader and unroll just as perfectly. I have only had one quilt top done this well. That was my applique quilt shown recently. Very well pieced and even.

[quiltaholi_518]

Linda,

This is an allover edge-to-edge so no turning required. And I always thought basting as I go down will keep it more square, but I guess that little bit of fullness, plus the size is helping perpetuate the problem..........

[mrsbishwit]

I baste my sides verses pinning. I tried pinning before when I had to rotate my quilt to do the side borders and ended up having major tucks on top and backing fabric. When I baste the sides I do not run into these problems and it is easier for me to turn the quilt and reload the quilt.

Caron; last week I had on my machine a king size monster it had a piano key pieced outer border that was extremely wavy along the outer edges the solution that I ended up going with was when I pinned to baste the sides I would look for the grain in the fabric of the border and made sure that section was straight this way all the fullness was eased in gracefully and no noticable tucks. This quilt also was an edge to edge panto. The results was better than I ever hoped for and even the customer was impressed by how the borders ended up square in the end. It takes a lot of trial and error to find what will actually work best for you. Good luck.

Joann

[pstagl]

If I know ahead of time that there will be fullness in the borders, or anywhere in the quilt top, I float the top and let it hang loose over the batting so that I can see what's coming. If I'm quilting along and start seeing fullness, I unroll the top and unzip/unpin it from the leader and let it hang loose. If I can see the problems before I get to them, it's easier to make adjustments for the fullness.

[APQS]

Hi Caron

This is what I do:

Full float the top

Put my horizontal channel lock on

Line up the machine foot with the inside border/sashing seam or a horizontal piecing seam line

Move the machine horizontally (not stitching)making sure the seam always stays at the edge of the foot

Where it goes behind or too far in front of the foot I move the fabric to the correct position and then put in a pin to hold it in place and one right on the edge of the quilt to keep that in place.

I move the machine head from the centre out when doing this. I put pines every 8" or so on the edge of the fabric.

I then pull the fabric vertically so that any vertically seam lines are as straight as possible

Then i baste allong the top edge of the top and down the sides.

After quilting this section I roll on and usually eyeball across the horizontal of the top to make sure the piecing is straight (you could use your machine in the channel lock position again

With this method the fullness stays where it was created in the piecing instead of slowly creeping down the top until you have so much fullness a dart won't work.

If I have to place a dart I do it in line with a horizontal piecing line - I just think its less noticeable there.

I always ring the customer if I have to do this. Sometimes I notice there will be a problem when the customer drops off the quilt, sometimes I don't.

Hope thats clear, but ask if its not.

Best wishes

Sue in Australia

[CathieD]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here but wouldn't an extra layer of batting in the borders help to ease in the fullness? I've never tried it myself but I've read of other quilters adding batting or using a fluffier batting when the borders are waving like a flag in a wind storm. Comments please?

Cathie

[Melanie Rouse]

When this happens to me, I unpick the basting stitches holding down the edges up to the actual quilting stitches. Begin to ease the fabric. Pin the edges and baste again. It may take you a couple of advancements to get it even again. To avoid this, begin straightening your border at the belly bar with each advancement. Ease it up toward the other roller. This happens on a lot of quilts that have straight borders. All the seams on the center of the quilt take up space when it is rolled, and the straight borders kind of begin to sag and flop. This being said, if you just make sure the border is in line and straight horizontally at your belly bar and ease the rest, it will work out 99% of the time and you can still baste the edges.

[bstucker]

Most of the quilts I get have this problem in varying degrees...the bigger the quilt, the bigger the problem, usually. After I baste the top edge of the quilt, I go to the roller its on and hand tighten the quilt to the roller, trying to get all the slack out of the middle of the quilt so it can catch up with the outer borders. Once that is done, I ease in any fullness on each roll of the top with pin basting, use a steam iron to ease the fullness some more, and then baste from the bottom up so the fullness stays in that area. There is usually a small dog ear at the bottom of each side of the quilt but after showing the customer a picture of my pin basting on their quilt, they are happy I dealt with it, and are happy to trim that dog ear. If the borders are mitered, this does not work very well, and they get the option of removing the borders and redoing them. Ususally I can tell this is going to happen when I first load the top and the miters in the top edge are out of whack. I've had two customers who had to redo those kind of borders.:mad:

[Bonnie]

I've had several of these and here is how I handled them and it seemed to work out great. However it did take a little more effort than I liked, but it did resolve the situation and you couldn't tell it had happened. (you might have to resquare up the corners, but that's easy)

When I was ALL done doing the middle of the quilt leaving the outer sashing or borders. I would remove the quilt from the frame and lay on a huge ironing board surface...(I have a piece of plywood cut down to 4'x6' covered with batting and a cotton overlay) with the quilt top up I start in a corner with a cotton setting iron and tons of steam and start to steam the border back out, squaring and smoothing as I go, using a bit of quilt basting spray (Sullivan's, the one in the pink can) and with the iron and the spray it will lay down as it should. IF you still have a bit of puckering you can hide tiny tucks in that won't show after its been quilted, but you shouldn't have to. Then I flip it over and do the back side....I have found what puckered on the top usually has some on the bottom as well, not always as much but a bit. Glue this side also.

When you have this ALL done you can either rehook it to the frame and finish it off or I sometimes just finishes these edges if they aren't to large with my regular sewing machine.

I have never had the spray not come out of a quilt...I always tell the customer that I have used it or have gotten permission to before I do it, with an explaination as to why I had to.

This has been my solution and its worked great for me, just thought I would share.

Bonnie

[HoosierQuilts]

Hi Caron, I just ran into a little bit fullness myself and took some pictures of it. I dont know how to post pictures on this list and just added them to my Webshots "Our Studio" album.

I always baste any fullness into place and quilt it down as I go. It removes the fullness before it gets too much to handle.

This will not work with a whole lot of fullness but 99 % of the time. When there is too much, I ask to have it fixed first or in some cases maybe a small tuck in the border will do but I don't like it only done it once.

I don't float problem quilts but roll them up on the #2 roller. When I run into the fullness I roll up small 10" long strips of 80/20 batting about the width of the border. This will take up the fullness when rolling up the top and keeps all horizontal seams nice and straight. Since I use mostly 80/20 batting, I have also recommended and used a higher loft batting for problem quilts but never doubled the batting just in the border.

J?rgen

[Cherie Walters]

Hi Caron,

Sue in Australia taught me about floating quilts keeping the top and sides basted. I find it a great technique for controlling fullness in a quilt. ESPICIALLY when combined with the steam iron. I will square my current work section using the channel locks and run the steam iron over it. It is absolutly amazing how much the steam will "shrink" the excess fabric into place (I have a theory that some of the fullness comes from excess stretching of the fabric and heat sets it back).

Of course there are some fabrics that this can not be used for - and I would never take the iron near a highly coloured fabric that I had the slightest suspicion might run. And of course, some quilts can neither be made completly square or sometimes there is just too much fullness to sit down.

Good luck

Cherie in Australia

Millennium with CQ

[qfairy]

Caron,

Looks to me like they have half square triangles pieced next to the border material. If this is so. Know exactly what is the problem. I've had this come across a few times and drove me insane to figure it out. If the triangles are put on with any stretch on the outside of the top that touches the border material, some tend to stretch that part when adding their borders. So I made up a helpful hints sheet to send out with all my customers so they won't have any problems with them. Not to say helped me out to quilt more evenly across something that lays more flatter(is this a word). I try to keep all the stretch on inside part and sometimes seen ladies baste 1/8" where there is stretch so when they add other material to that side it is less likely to stretch. Hope this is clear to you. Good luck with what you have already started. Hard to fix what wasn't your doing. I know I haven't seen the last one like that, just keeping my fingers crossed it will be awhile before I see another one.