Binding Question

[TAQuilts]

I'm quilting a 100"x120" cross stitched quilt that a friends mother stitched before she died. I'm following the blue pre-printed quilting pattern that's on the quilt top.

Hopefully when she goes to soak the quilt to remove the blue pattern lines most of it will come off. She knows her mother started this at least 10 years ago finishing it just before she died this spring. Actually she really doesn't care if these lines come out, she just wants to give the quilt to her dad for xmas.

My question for the experts is, Do you put the binding on before or after she soaks the quilt?

Another ? I have, the quilt is White fabric with Blue THread, is there a possibility that the Blue Thread will run?

She's not a quilter and I'm not a cross stitcher so I'm trying to find out as much as I can to help her out as this is a very special quilt.

Thanks

Terry

[jmcclannan]

I would bind before soaking and I would try just spritzing the quilt to see if the blue lines will come out without truly soaking it.

[Bonnie]

I always bind before I wash a quilt, but there are those who are needing it to be perfectly square and they wash and block to dry, then bind....so as long as you have a good stitch on the edge you can do it either way...however, I would do the binding first and then wash... just so she doesn't get into any trouble.

With this quilt being as old as it is, she may have to soak and rinse a few times before it all comes out....about 12 years ago they started to make the blue dots easier to come out, but if this one happens to be actually a bit older she may have a little harder time to get it all out the first washing....

[ffq-lar]

There has been much discussion of those blue guilelines on kit quilts and the concensus seems to be that the older the fabric the harder it will be to remove. Soak a small area before you do the rest and see if it is working. If they are coming out, soak before binding. I say this because usually when I bind I iron the binding to wrap it to the back and I wonder if the pressing at the edges will set the blue marks at the edges.

I recently was thrilled to quilt a kit top from 1938. Those blue marks were permanent after 70 years--the customer tried washing them out before she assembled the separate blocks. I ignored them as I quilted--they were a very primitive and lumpy-shaped feather design that was not continuous. We decided those tiny blue dots added "charm"--yeah, that's the word we used to allow me to disregard the guides!!

Good luck and let us know what worked and what didn't so we can add them to our trouble-shooting notebooks!

[Just Sew Simple]

I like my quilts SQUARE. So I quilt, stay stitch around, soak/wash, block and bind. They turn out super flat and nicely square. You don't have to do it that way, that's just what is right for me.