Preparing Your Quilt
Please follow these guidelines for preparing your quilt top, backing, and batting, and your quilt will look better, and you’ll save money!
If you prewashed the fabrics in your quilt top it is highly recommended that you prewash your backing fabric also.
• Batting and backing must be at least 4”-6” larger than the quilt top on all sides (8”-12”” longer and 8”-12” wider).
• Backing must be squared and properly seamed together. We can’t guarantee that backings and tops will be perfectly centered. We will do our best to center your backing, but we recommend that you piece our back asymmetrically, or use a wide back—see our website for examples.
• We will not accept sheets as backing fabric. They have a higher thread count and can be very difficult to stitch through. Some more loosely woven fabrics or fabrics that are blends are not usable for backings… please ask
• Quilt top, batting, and backing must be received as separate layers.
• Square and press your top as you piece it.
• Be sure all pieced seams are completely sewn together, trimmed, and pressed flat.
• Press seams well. Be sure the top lies flat. Ripples and “puffy” places will not necessarily quilt flat. Take care that the borders do not ripple and wave. Having ripples and waves in your borders may cause pleats in your quilt. See our webiste for our wave-free border tutorial.
• The top should be free of pins and embellishments such as buttons and beads.
• Clip all loose threads. They will show through light fabrics and might damage the quilt if they “catch” during the quilting process.
• Quilt top should be trimmed down to final finished size. We will not cut or trim a quilt top.
• We recommend stay stitching or back-tacking seams around the edge of your quilt, especially if you have bias edges around the edge.
• Use one safety pin to mark the top of the quilt if the quilt is directional.
• If you would like us to match thread color to a specific fabric color, please let us know.
• We supply a variety of thread colors, including variegated. We use Glide thread exclusively
• You may choose to use any color for the bobbin, we usually match the threads—If a darker bobbin thread is chosen, you will see very small “pokies” on the top of the quilt, it is not due to incorrect tension, it is the locking of the stitches together. They usually disappear after the quilt is washed and dried the first time.
• We do not trim quilts after they are quilted.
• Our turnaround time is typically 30-90 days. You can check the status of your quilt at our online ticket tracker at:
www.QuiltElements.com/ticket.
Pricing
Our prices are based on the size of your quilt and complexity of the pattern.
We charge by the square inch. To figure the square inch of your quilt top, measure the width and the length and multiply them together. This will give you the total square inches of your quilt. Then multiple the total square inches by the type of quilting you request. Example: A quilt which measures 80 x 80 = 6400 square inches x .02 (2¢ per square inch) = $128.
We charge by the square inch in several different categories.
Edge to Edge—2¢ -5¢ per square inch, depending on the design’s size and complexity.
Our minimum charge is $40.
Other Charges
Batting
You may bring your own batting, but highly recommend using high quality batting (We have tried ALL of the battings out there, and we LOVE Quilter’s Dream batting above all others!
We stock the following high-quality battings in 93” or 120” wide:
Quilter’s Dream 80/20
Quilter’s Dream Wool
Quilter’s Dream Bamboo
We also carry a rotating selection of other pre-packaged and 60” wide Quilter’s Dream battings.
Piecing backing fabric – $10.00 per seam
Variegated/Specialty thread charge – $2 per bobbin