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Longarming #21 - When The Pressure Is On, Quilters Put On The Pressure!
Greetings!
Introduction
This is one of the newsletters in a series of almost thirty on "Getting The Most Out Of Your Longarming Dollar." That was the title of one of Ruth's talks at Shipshewana's Schoolhouse training sessions during their Quiltfest.
 
The purposes of those talks and these newsletters are to:
 
  • Allow you to get the best longarm quilting results;
 
  • Have you end up with a work of art of which you are proud;
 
  • Anticipate the needs of your longarmer because that impacts the cost; and,
 
  • Make the longarming process easier on your longarmer so that they may focus on the quality of their craftsmanship.
 
Prior emails in this series can be found on our web-site: ForeverInStitches.com on the tab newsletters.
When The Pressure Is On, Quilters Put On The Pressure!!

The art of quilting has come a long way. A lot has changed in the way of methods, materials, and tools. The artistic items produced today far exceed the expectations of quilters in the past. And, I'm talking about the area of pieced quilting.

A few of the items that come immediately to mind that are "game changers" are:

  • Acrylic templates to assist in measuring and cutting;
  • Rotary cutters and their associate self-healing cutting mats allowing for cleanly cut fabric;
  • Longarm quilting machines that relieve those backbreaking hours of quilting over a king-sized quilt on a frame;
  • The internet to share ideas, training and distribute product; and,
  • Adhesives on tapes and interfacing to hold the fabric in place.

Some old items are still needed such as:
  • Pins to secure fabric while performing various functions such as sewing;
  • We, of course, can not forget cotton fabric with color fast dyes and treatments; and,
  • Irons. Yuck! Weren't those eliminated by new fabric finishes? - No!
We all know that seams need to be pressed. Although there still seems to be a lot of discussion about which direction they should be pressed. From a longarming point of view, the seams should lay flat, regardless of the direction in which they were pressed.

Ironing the back will also allow you to determine if there are excessive threads that could show through on the top.

Ironing the front makes a nice smooth top. But ever more important, it can highlight where the seams are open or not properly secured. After all, you don't want a longarm's foot to get caught in a seam and do some real damage to your quilt top.

After all, we want those works of art to be the best possible - stellar!
We hope that this has been informative and helpful!

May The Lord Richly Bless You!
Rick & Ruth Grihalva
At Forever In Stitches our goal is to further the art of quilting and longarming.
 
We thank you for your interest in our newsletters. We try to keep our newsletters informative, instructive, and enlightening, in addition to informing you of specials and temporary closures.  

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Please note that a history of our newsletters, since mid-2016, can be found on our web-site: ForeverInStitches.com.
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