The Luna QAL - Prepping Your Quilt for Quilting

You might be thinking . . . I made my quilt, what more do I need to do? Well, you don't HAVE to do anything at this point but there are some things that you can to do to help your quilt be the best it can be (especially if you are having your quilt long-arm quilted).

These steps take just a little bit of time but can give your quilt a more finished look. If you are having your project long-arm quilted, your quilter will also be grateful that you have prepared your quilt.

• Press your quilt top. Hopefully you have been pressing your quilt regularly as you made your blocks and then pieced your blocks together, but it's a good idea to give it one more pressing. Whether your seams are pressed open or to the side, you want to make sure they stay where you want them.
• Trim threads off of the back of the quilt. I will usually skip this step if all of my fabrics are dark and I'm not worried about random threads showing through, but if you are using a light background fabric, this one is important. Take a few minutes and trim any pieces that might show through on your quilt.
• Trim threads from the front of your quilt top. If I am going to quilt my project myself, I will usually trim these as I am basting or quilting. If you are sending your project to be quilted, you won't have that opportunity so go ahead and trim them now. 
• Stay stitch around your quilt top. I like to use a long, basting stitch and just quickly sew around the edge of my quilt top (about 1/8" from the edge). This will keep seams around the edge of the quilt from pulling apart.
• Prep your backing fabric and batting (more info on this below).

Batting

There are lots of things to consider when picking batting fabric for your quilt. Do you want your quilt to be fluffy? Flat? Toasty warm? Good for all seasons?

I use Quilter's Dream Cotton Select batting for almost all of my quilts — it is a mid-loft (flat, but not the thinnest) 100% cotton batting that I find to be very good quality and wonderful to work with. Since I live in a fairly moderate climate, I like to have quilts that can be used year round. 

If you are looking for something fluffier, check out wool or cotton/poly blend options. 

While Quilter's Dream is my favorite brand, I have also had good luck with Warm and Natural and Pellon cotton battings. You may need to try a few different options before you find your favorite.

Your batting will need to be 4" larger on EACH side of the quilt. If you are making the lap size Luna Quilt, your quilt is 60" by 72" so your batting needs to be at least 68" x 80". If you are buying packaged batting, that means you will need to purchase the twin size. 

If you are having your quilt long-armed, talk to your quilter — they may have a preferred brand or may have batting that you can purchase directly from them.

Backing

I love picking a backing fabric for a quilt, it is a great way to tie everything together. 

I did a post a while back about how to piece your backing fabric for different sizes (you can view that here) but here are the specifics for this pattern. 

Go ahead and get your backing fabric prepped this week if you are able — next week we are basting!