Sunday, February 28, 2010

If your backing isn't moving well during quilting

There are a couple of things I repeatedly hear people say about getting your quilt backing to better move across your machine table. Both of these are good ideas:
o Some starch the backing
o Many wax or polish (using old fashioned furniture polish) the machine table top
In addition to that...
o At least one I know of places a small amount of corn starch on acrylic table tops. She says her machine service guy said this is okay...doesn't harm the machine.

I have discovered a couple of additional things about choosing the backing fabric.
o High quality/high thread count batiks tend to move well. They have a feel similar to percale... in other words 'slick.'
o Be cautious about selecting a backing with metallics printed on them....Metallics tend to grab the table.
o Be cautious of less expensive coarse fabrics with a slightly raised pattern printed on them... some tend to grab the table.

Now that I've said all that, what if you have followed all those ideas, have selected a backing fabric that seems like it will move well, and then in the middle of the quilting process, find your backing fabric to be stubborn. Well, I'm not a good one for picking out and starting over, so I do the following. I make extra effort to roll and fold quilts to minimize the amount of the back that is being pushed and pulled directly across the machine table. This may not work as well on a giant quilt but works well on wall sized pieces.

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