Bonnie H Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 This weekend I quilted a little square quilt using 80/20 Hobbs and QD wool. It turned out so cute and puffy! It's the owl pattern Hooterville that Oma recently shared her picture of (thanks Oma for the inspiration to finish mine!). My camera's memory card isn't working right or I would upload a picture. This was the first time for me to use Hobbs 80/20 and QD wool and I found it a bit of a challenge as it was so darn puffy doing the bit of ruler work I did -- had to press kinda hard to keep that ruler flat over the puff! LOL When I removed the quilt from the bars, my quilt was no longer square. It is fine from side to side but from top to bottom where it was attached to the take-up roller and belly bar, I lost about 3/4 of an inch. It is now a 39 x 38-1/4 inch quilt. It still looks square thank goodness and is "square" so to speak, no wonky angles going on, but still). How do you keep a square quilt square, say you have a 90 x 90 inch quilt, how to you keep the quilt exactly 90 x 90 in all FOUR directions? I thought I had pulled it taut when advancing (I floated) but I guess not. Could it have been the two battings or ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CindyT Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Bonnie, I'm definitely no expert since I've only used two battings at once only one time, but the same thing happened to me. I rectified the situation by also learning how to block my quilt and pull it back out to "squareness". I'm guessing it's the two battings together... as it appeared to be square as I was quilting it. Hopefully someone with more experience with this issue will chime in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 It is very unusual for a quilted quilt to come out to the exact dimensions it was when it was just a top. Any quilting will cause a certain amount of 'draw-in.' This also happens when you hand-quilt a quilt. I use a square ruler when lining up my quilts with my first batting stitching line and continue down the side of the quilt. I generally do not stress about 1/4" - 1/2". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oma Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Yay LInda...I was just thinking the exact same thing. I don't fret about anything under an inch. Unless these quilts are going into a "judged" show don't worry about the "little" things. If someone ever pulled out a ruler and measured one of my quilts to see if it was square...well, I would definitely take the quilt away from them and tell them they don't get one from me. I'm anxious to see your quilt now that it's quilted. It was absolutely beautiful before. ♥ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyLake Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 You would have to block it to get it back to the original dimensions. Karen McTavish shows how to do this in one of her books. Basically you wet the quilt down and then have to gradually pull it out and pin it down to dry at the original dimensions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 I make show quilts oversize because they always seem to draw in, sometimes a lot. If I allow extra on the borders I can make them perfect after quilting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 If you're not already doing it, load the top onto the front take-up roller. Floating the top will result in more draw-up than if you have some tension on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Originally posted by Ferret I make show quilts oversize because they always seem to draw in, sometimes a lot. If I allow extra on the borders I can make them perfect after quilting. Originally posted by ffq-lar If you're not already doing it, load the top onto the front take-up roller. Floating the top will result in more draw-up than if you have some tension on it. Smart cookies...these two! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie H Posted December 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 Thank you, ladies for the reassurances and the tips. It never occurred to me to make the borders a little bigger and then cut them down when the quilt is finished. What a great tip, Ferret! I think I may have a book or seen how to block a quilt, but it just seems to intimidating for me. Plus I can imagine my cat is going to find a nice spot to lie if I were to use the floor to block it on. :P Okay, so lesson learned. A totally square quilt is probably not going to happen for me unless by accident. Oh, I almost forgot. I usually stitch my top down like Linda mentioned to do. Oma, I will send you a picture when I find my DH's camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 I would love to block my quilts but the biggest space I can make is 20" by 10' not terribly handy, so cheating works fine for me Ferret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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