Sandwiching a quilt for quilting

Last weekend I managed to get a quilt sandwiched for quilting.  I thought it would be interesting to show people the steps of sandwiching a quilt.  This would be a quilt that is quilted by a domestic sewing machine and not a longarm machine.  The first steps in getting prepared for quilting is ironing the different layers of a quilt.

Take  your time and iron out all the creases and folds, this step will pay for you in the long run.  Press/iron the backing. Do not over iron the piece, as you do not want to stretch it out of proportion.  Lay the backing on the floor face side down.  The batting if compressed, may need to be opened up and left out for a while to breath.  The fibers need to expand back to original size.  Leaving it out for 24 hours is usually the best thing to do.  If you find it is still too wrinkly, I would suggest you take the backing and drape it over the batting and iron it gently and lay the batting layer over top of the backing fabric.

Once that is done, take your hands and gently smooth out the batting over top of the backing.  Check for any bulky spots or what I like to refer to as air pockets.  Smooth everything out.  The batting should feel like one piece with the backing.  Once that is done, take the time to again gently iron/press the top.  Remember that the top is a bit more fragile as it has many seams.

So this is my quilt, laying on the floor.  At this point I am ready to tack the layers together.  I used to use safety pins and tack the quilt together about every 4" apart.  I recently purchased a Micro I Fastener (known by many names).  With this I would take the grid and place it just under the quilt edge.

I have attached ribbon to all four sides of the grid, in order to be able to pull the grid down the quilt as I needed to tack the layers together.  The device that tacks it looks like a glue gun.  What is does is shoots a plastic fastener through the different layers to hold everything together.  I still do this every 4" apart so things doesn't shift.

Now you are ready to start quilting.  For the most part you usually start quilting in the ditch, from top left hand side to bottom right hand side. Fill in the areas with grids or fancier stitches from the middle outward, and on to the borders.

I will let you know how it went when I finish it.  Like the log cabin quilt waiting it's turn to be quilted this one will do the same.