How do I deal with a 2 sided quilt

[ssissenwein]

My customer said her husband wants her to make her next quilt reversible. He wants to save space in their vacation home and be able to have 2 different looks. She is therefore piecing 2 quilts that she wants to be the top and back of one quilt. She understands that it might be difficult to line these up while machine quilting.

My questions:

Can I quilt a 2 sided reversible pieced-on-both sides quilt on my Millenium?

If so:

1. What should I tell her I need for preparation - ie extra wide borders - how wide?

2. What would I need to do while loading the tops?

3. Do I need to do anything special while quilting?

4. Should I tell her to baste it together before I get it?

I'm really worried about this project and not looking forward to her getting the piecing done.

Thanks Sara

[Grammie]

Haven't had that request but anythings possible.

I would want one of the tops of course to be larger. Just make borders larger than needed so you will have the extra fabric on the piece that will be the backing during the quilting. I personally would insist they do this. It will be easy to trim afterwards.

I would not want anything basted before loading. Personally.

I'm assuming you could only do a Panto so it should be simple as quilting any other quilt.

Pick a Panto that's great for both sides and match bobbin and thread or use monopoly.

Let us know how it turns out. Nothing to sweat over.

Just a newbie's suggestion.

[ffq-lar]

Hi Sara---

I just dealt with this issue on a top with a pieced backer. It was batik on both sides and I did an overall bamboo pattern. The top and bottom threads were the same--hides any tension issues.

Because she wanted the back design centered, I had her baste the whole thing to her satisfaction. It was then loaded as one piece and fairly easily quilted. It came out centered and she was very happy. It was reversible and looked good on both sides. (It was only 55"x55"--not a bed sized top.)

I've also quilted a top where the customer wanted a different color for the backer so it would show and be reversible. As long as the thread colors are similar (like dark blue and dark green) I have had good luck and liked the end result.

Quilting an overall design or a panto would be easiest of course. Loading is easy--pin the whole sandwich to the take up rollers. Don't have the top too tight on the rollers and make sure the basting has left the top flat. One thing to watch for are any heavy seam intersections on the backer--my Milli "chunked" over these so I went slower than I might have on an unpieced backer.

Hope this helps and have fun! Happy 4th to you all!

Linda R

Olympia Wa

[Bonnie]

Hi Sara,

First off I would make sure that I knew which was the top and which was the bottom....I had to do a quilt another machine quilter did when she made that mistake and did the customer quilting to fit the bottom and not the top. The customer was so angry that she wouldn't even the let the original quilter take out the thread and redo it....she just gave it to me to redo, man what a headache that was to take out.

YOU WILL NEVER be able to line them up perfectly no matter how hard you try to from the git-go I would explain that you need to know which is the top and which is the bottom should she want customer work. If not then I agree that you're best bet would be to just to a panto with matching threads for each side (if they are both fairly dark it won't make much difference, however if one side is white and the other side dark you might get dark pokes on the white side.)

I would also suggest a very wide outside border on the bottom and the top to be floated in the centered as best you can with the understanding that the excess will be trimmed off, and the slight chance that the backside borders may be a little bit off...basting might help, but I personally have never liked to put a hand or machine basted quilt on as either the top or bottom doesn't have the same amount of tension on it and I have gotten several tiny tucks on either side. Customers were happy, but I wasn't.

As Linda said you might have to slow down a bit with your speed, as you will be going over double seams...they always look good when they are down this way, but a pain to get sometimes perfect.

Take and hope all goes well with this one.

[Rita]

I was really lucky -did 2 of these...the quilts were really well put together and the way she worked them was in reverse...so what went on the top LUCKILY worked on the bottom...does that make sense? Most are NOT that precise...I LOVE HER! lol:)

[xtraquilts]

I have done several reversible quilts. The back should be 6" llonger and wider than the top. I used a pantograph and same color thread top and bottom. It's easier to center the sides-the top and bottom stretch is hard to predict. There was no problem in quilting it at all. You just have to explain you won't know for sure where the back will need to be trimmed for binding.

Now I have a double t-shirt quilt and am worried it will be too thick for the machine-anyone have any advice on that?

She did add extra borders to the back and I'll do free-style or a panto, but which needle? Ballpoint?

Sue

[Grace]

When I need to center the top onto a specially peiced backing, I fold the back in half lenghtwise and again crossways, mark it with a pin or something obvious, then lay the backing on my floor and smooth it out. Next I fold the top the same way, and mark the center as I did the backing. Now I open the top carefully aligning the center marks, and smooth it out as best I can. Large safety pins are pinned onto the backing just at the line where the top will lay. I usually only place one or two along the center top of the backing. This gives me a reference point of where to place the top edge of the quilt top after both pieces are rolled onto the rollers. I anchor it down using a basting stitch and begin quilting. The sides center themselves so my only concern is the top and bottom centering. My quilts usually come out within an inch of being perfectly centered. Actually, the last one was dead center and looked really nice.

Hope this is clearly explained.