Dear Cowgirl Crafty,

My quilt backing is only 43–44" wide, and my quilt will be approximately 34" across when finished. Will 5" of extra margin on each side be enough for the longarm machine? I have plenty of length, that dimension isn't a problem.

Also — if I add a 2" border all the way around, bringing the width to 38", I'd only have about two inches of margin on each side. I was thinking of cutting a couple of panels and stitching them onto the sides to bring that up to six inches each, then trimming them off after quilting. I'd have to stitch them in vertically. I'm trying not to buy wideback fabric unless I truly need it, and I have a lot of this 43–44" Riley Blake yardage for length, just not width.

— Kathryn

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Dear Kathryn,

Short answer: your original 34" quilt works as-is. For the bordered version at 38", you've got three solid options, pick whichever fits your needs, and I'll walk through why each works below.

Your 34" quilt: no changes needed

5" of margin per side is the standard minimum, and that's exactly what you've got: 44" minus 34" is 10" total, 5" per side.

Why margin matters: it gives the fabric a wide, even bed of tension while quilting. Skip it, and the vertical borders risk stretching, especially if the quilter needs to ease in any fullness. How much risk depends on the fabric, in my experience muslin, Minky, Kona, Moda, Pepper Cotton, and AGF all behave differently under tension, so there's no single number that predicts exact stretch. What's consistent: it's not worth risking over a few inches of fabric.

Your bordered quilt (38"): three options for backing

Option 1: Sew two lengths of yardage together. Stitch two 43–44" lengths along the selvage, about 1" from the edge. Trimming that seam's selvage afterward is optional. Leave a ½" minimum seam allowance and press it to one side so the seam lies flat and won't pop open if the quilt gets heavy use.

Option 2: Wideback. No piecing, no seam to manage, a good choice once a quilt outgrows what a single standard-width piece can cover with adequate margin.

Backing prep for options 1 & 2 (no squaring needed): provide at least 10" of extra width beyond the quilt top, a little more if your cut tends to run wonky. Separately, if you rip the fabric to straighten it, tearing rather than cutting, that process can fray the edge by about 1" on each side, so add 2" more: 12" wider than your quilt top instead of 10". Also provide 11" of extra height, 4" on the bottom, 7" on top. The extra height lets the longarmer square the backing as it rolls onto the take-up bar, before clamping the top edge in place.

Load direction: selvages run horizontally, East to West, parallel to the frame.

Option 3: Small quilts running selvages perpendicular to the frame. At 38" wide, your margins are only 3" per side, so this option gets you there without piecing. Cut a single, unpieced 44"-wide length, sized at your quilt top's height plus 11", or more if squaring that fabric is a challenge. This loads with the selvages running vertically, North to South, along the East and West sides, instead of the usual horizontal orientation. It's viable because your quilt is small, here's what to know:

• Load direction: selvages run vertically, North to South, perpendicular to the frame. Selvage is a tight, non-stretch edge, so it acts as a built-in tension bar on the sides, doing the job extra margin would otherwise do.
• Tension testing: longarmers test tension in the margins, using fabric similar to, or the same as, your quilt top, laid over the exposed batting and backing. Send a separate test strip, about 15" x 43/44" of backing and 5" x 10–15" of quilt top fabric, in case your longarmer needs a sample to test, fabric qualities vary as much as we covered above.
• Squaring: square the bottom edge to a true 90 degrees relative to the selvages, and add 11" of height beyond your quilt top. Square the top too, and that drops the backing height requirement to 8" more than your quilt top.
• One catch: this only works with non-directional prints. Rotating the fabric this way also rotates any printed pattern, so a directional print will run sideways. If your backing has a directional print, use option 1 or 2 instead.

Whichever option you choose, never trim off the selvages around the backing's perimeter. Having selvages that run perfectly parallel to the bar ensures your backing is almost perfectly even from side to side. Worried about sending more fabric than needed? Just ask your longarmer to return the leftover backing. And if your backing needs a specific loading direction, say so upfront.

Last resort: side-strips

Stitching narrow strips onto the sides creates vertical seams right alongside the border you're trying to protect. Vertical seams can invite tension inconsistencies and puckering if not monitored closely while quilting, depending on the fabric. To compensate, a longarmer sometimes has to gently put pressure on the quilt mid-stitch to keep the backing from puckering underneath, which can throw off pattern alignment. This is especially tricky for free-motion quilting, since we only have two hands.

If you do add strips at the edges to extend width, leave at least 3" of clearance for baby or lap quilts, four to five inches for larger ones. It also helps to load the quilt top onto the bar rather than floating it, to prevent the quilt from shifting causing it to quilt over the backing seams.

Bottom line

Your 38" quilt top works with any of the three options above. If you go with option 3, confirm with your longarmer ahead of time that she's on board. Always leave ample height for loading on the frame, and send a strip of fabric matching your quilt top so she can test tension accurately before she starts.

Quilt on.

— Cowgirl Crafty

Picking a pattern feels like it should be simple. Then you start scrolling through options and suddenly you're wondering whether you want something dense, something simple, something modern, something with personality, and the answer is usually some mix of all four. Here's how I think about it, and how I design patterns to make that choice easier.

Here’s a secret, this can be easy when you opt to not square it!! What size batting and backing do I need for my quilt top? Below is an example of how to determine what size batting and backing you need using a quilt top size of 50” wide X 60” high Quilt Top: Measure Width and Height Width = North to South Height = West to East.

Tip: Leave selvages on! More is better and therefore it’s ok to provide backing that’s way taller than needed. We will simply roll it up on the backing bar and return any unused backing to you. Selvages also help ensure the back is perfectly straight.

Batting: Add 6” to width and height so in this example the total needed would be 56” x 66” 

Squared backing is when the fabric is measured and perfectly squared with four 90 degree corners in prep for the longarm. This can be labor intensive unless you use the ripping method from selvage to selvage and therefore not recommended unless you know how and don’t mind the effort.

That is ok! You can simply sew two lengths of regular sized fabric together. Be sure to make all backing seams horizontal (West to East).

This really depends. If you were ironing your quilt top seams as you went along during the quilt construction process, then there really isn’t a need to re-iron it. The rule of thumb is to make sure your seams are flat(ish) and there are no deep wrinkles that will struggle laying flat. One way to test this is to lay your quilt top across a bed to see if it lays flat. If there is a lot of fullness you can mist it with water to see if it will lie flat. Be sure your quilt top is completely dry before packaging up for your longarm quilter. Your longarmer can also gently mist problem areas on the longarm quilting machine frame to help.

With Innova longarm quilting machines, we get very good tension for the back of our quilts. This makes ironing backing fabric not needed unless there are deep wrinkles is common with wide back fabric cut from the bolt. The best way to combat this is to iron out problem spots before passing the material to your longarm quilter. Alternatively, she can iron your backing for you which will likely incur a fee, or gently mist the wrinkle at no cost. The downside of misting the wrinkle is that it tightens the tension where ever the fabric got wet. Your quilt will still stitch out nicely but if you concerned with having perfectly even tension on your backing, it is best to treat the whole backing uniformly. However it’s debatable whether there is any difference to the outcome so in most cases, a gentle spray of water works fine. TIP for longarm quilters: Beware of fabrics that bleed when misting with water. For fabrics that may potentially bleed, be sure to let each area dry before advancing the quilt.

In the example of a 50″ x 60″ quilt top you would cut two 58″ pieces off the bolt and sew them together along the selvage. Depending on the fabric I recommend sewing 1″ from the edge of the selvage, then trimming of the selvage leaving a minimum of 1/2″ seam allowance. TIP: Iron seam to one side to help it lay flat. 1/4″ seams have more trouble laying flat so you will have a cleaner look with a bigger seam allowance. 1″ also works nicely. Now you will be left with one piece that is 58″ wide X 86″ tall. We recommend that you do not cut the height down to size and instead send us the oversized backing. We will return your excess backing to you with your finished quilt.

Backing fabric seams should ALWAYS run horizontal (West to East) when loaded on the longarm quilting frame. This will insure you have consistent tension for each quilting rows.

TIP: Avoid vertical backing seams!!! If you have a vertical seam, experienced longarm quilters will try to rotate the quilt to load it sideways to accommodate. This doesn’t always work however depending on the quilting technique and patterns selected so it’s best to avoid vertical backing seams as a general rule.

If the backing is not large enough to accommodate your quilt top your longarm quilter can sew on a leader. A leader is a strip of fabric that is cut to the same width as your quilt top by however tall that is needed. Being that there is cutting, piecing, and measuring involved, there will likely be a fee of approximately $20 per leader + any associated fabric costs needed. This is why it is always a good to provide an adequate amount of backing.

If so, this needs to be addressed before it can be quilted by trimming away all the loose threads. This can get costly if you are charged for the time it takes to clean it up by your longarm quilter. One of the best ways you can help your longarmer prepare your quilt top is by removing all excess threads, lint, hairs, etc from both the quilt top and back, and your backing.

The simple answer is cheap fabric. It is a false economy to buy bottom-of-the-barrel fabric from Walmart, Amazon Etsy, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Joann’s (RIP), etc. These stores are prone to carrying knock-off brands and/or low quality options. If you don’t believe quality is a priority, ask your self in three years time, if my quilt starts to unravel, will I wish I had spent the extra $10-$20 for quality fabric? Is it really worth buying “on-the-cheap” if it doesn’t last?

This is why professional longarmer quilters strongly advise buying quilt fabric from reputable quilt shops that carry genuine brands whether brick and mortar or online.

Having cheap fabric can also increase your longarming costs or at a minimum, cause your longarmer aggravation due to all the extra work this creates for her in having to trim all the erroneous threads.

When working on patters that have fabric cut on the bias be sure to either piece them right way, or sew a 1.8 inch stay stitch an 1/8th of an inch from the bias edge to prevent it from from EXPANDING!! Yes fabric on the bias stretches, a lot. And with a pattern that uses a lot of bias cuts runs the risk of adding excess amounts of fullness across the entire quilt top. This is caused by a lot of handling of the cut fabric shapes over time. By taking a page out of the apparel construction book, you can preserve the intended shape of your cut without worry of it distorting. Below is an example of a problematic quilt pattern.

Cutting on the bias is when you cut your fabric diagonally to the selvages of the fabric (top and bottom of the bolt), otherwise known as the weft and warp directions of the fabric treads. The bias has a stretch to it and some fabrics are more prone to getting stretched out of shape than others. This is the majority of quilters prefer quality quilting cotton for its quilting stability. Batiks, as beautiful as they are, are one of the biggest offenders of stretching.

TIP: When quilting with cotton Batiks, AWAYS stay stitch your bias edges. When using batiks on quilt borders, consider having your longarmer sew these on on for you directly on the longarm machine frame to avoid wavy borders.

1. Mist the fabric with water to tighten up the fibers
2. Use a denser pattern to pull in the fabric more
3. Stand over quilt and ease in problem areas
4. Maintain good tension on all for sides of the quilt bed of the longarm machine
5. For extreme wavy borders, the best solution is to remove the borders and have the longarmer add them back on directly on the longarm quilting frame. 

The good news is that mild fullness can be put right and you will likely never hear a peep from your longarm quilter that there were any issues. A little bit is normal and not an issue for the experienced quilter.

The bad news is that quilts with excessive fullness can take 5-10X the amount of time to quilt. This means either the longarm quilter is working those extra 5-12 hours for free, or the customer will be charged an hourly rate. Rates depend on the individual policy of the longarmer so best to check with them to see how they handle issues. One thing to keep in mind is that longarmers’ schedules book up so you want to be sure you don’t get dropped from the rotation if you consistently provide quilts with a lot of fullness. At Fat Stitch we address problems on a case-by-case basis and to date have eaten most of that time to keep costs down for the customer. Luckily we rarely come across extreme cases.

Your friendly trusted longarm quilter will advise you on the best way to prep your quilt to save you on your machine quilting costs, and ultimately share tips and tricks to help you on your quilting journey.

Custom quilting jobs look great, but they are labor intensive and take a lot more time to complete. Even adding digital quilting borders makes the job take 4-5 times longer with additional planning, pattern editing, and thread burying. Edge-to-edge digital quilting patters are a very economical way to get your quilt project completed and to significantly reduce costs. The pattern options are endless. At Fat Stitch we spend a lot of time on each project hunting for just the right pattern to accompany the theme of your quilt for the best outcome, even if that means buying new patterns on our dime.

Other ways to save money after the quilting is completed is to trim the quilt yourself and bind it. Trimming is also referred to as squaring your quilt. This is an important part of the prep needed for binding. The longarm quilter can do this for you, or you can opt to do it yourself at home.

Binding almost doubles the costs of quilting. By binding the quilt yourself, you will cut down costs considerably. On the other hand, many quilters abhor binding and prefer to have it done by their longarm quilter. There is no right or wrong approach, only what’s right for you!

For quilts that were stitched with a border and B2B pattern or hand-guided (FMQ) can have upwards of 10 - 30+ threads to bury. You can talk to your longarm quilter about using the back-tack method instead, opt to bury the threads yourself, or pay her for this service.

Many longarm quilters prefer to supply their own batting. We have researched high and low to find you the best quality batting by reputable U.S. Manufacturers offering 100% natural batting free of toxic fillers, resins, and scrims. Also logistically storing and tracking bulky batting for every customer would get cumbersome and problematic. We store our batting on the roll in a clean environment giving you the best options for your creations.

Fat Stitch is a family-owned small business located in Concord, California, USA.