How to Make a Quilt Without Actually Quilting

Thursday, August 18, 2011

or how to use a long arm quilter to do the work for you.

For my first quilt, and I'm sure for my next, I had a long arm quilter finish my quilt.  It was very simple and affordable and I'm so pleased to have a finished quilt.

Find your local quilter's guild for long arm quilters who take in business.   Call for rates and compare.  The first person I called lived in my neighborhood, charged $0.03/ sq in but had a 3 month turnaround time.  The second quilter lived about 5 miles away, charged $0.02 sq in and finished it in 3 weeks.

Prepare top and back.  Finish your top, making sure seams are pressed and loose threads are clipped.  For the back, find out how much larger they want your backing to be.  My quilter asked that the back be 4 inches larger than the top in each direction.


Choose your pattern.  My quilter had a notebook of patterns, or pantographs.  I chose a meandering one and really love how simple it is.


Wait.  The hard part.

Trim and bind.  This is how it looked when I picked it up.



Enjoy.  





For those wondering about how affordable it is-here's the breakdown on my quilt:

Quilting was $.02/sq inch.  It came to $81. The batting was $16, and provided by the quilter.  And there was a $3 thread fee.  So worth it.

Have you used a quilting service before?

3 Creative People Had This To Say:

tdenney said...

I just used a lady in Murphy to embroider K's backpack and lunchbox Her main business is quilting.
Pam Seeger
knotjustmyquilts.com

Kristen, pajama mama said...

wow, i don't know her, but i wish i did...thanks for the link, tracey!

Lisa said...

Nice!! Just had a friend over this morning, and she and her mom are using a quilting service for the quilt they are working on. Sounds wonderful! By the time I get to the actual quilting part, I'm ready for a break anyway. :)
p.s. Pretty quilt!