How to Prepare Fabric for Quilting

Sewing, if it is something you like, can quickly become an addicting hobby. There are so many great things that you can make, and most projects can be completed for the same or less money as what you would pay for the same product in the stores. One great sewing project is quilting. So, if you would love to have a nice stack of quilts at the end of your bed, then you first need to know how to prepare fabric for quilting.

Things You'll Need

• Washing machine
• Dryer
• Laundry soap
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting mat
• Long plastic ruler

Instructions

1. Unfold all the pieces of fabric. You might have purchased some of your fabrics precut in what is known as quarters, or you may have had some fabrics cut for you at the fabric store. No matter how you purchased the fabrics you need to unfold the fabrics once you get them home so that you can start prepare them for quilting.

2. Handwash or machine wash the fabrics on a gentle cycle. It is important to wash your fabrics before you do any cutting or sewing so that you can get all the starch out of the fabrics.

3. Throw your fabrics in the dryer until they are completely dry or at least partially dry. If you take your fabric out of the dryer before they are completely dry make sure that you hang them to finish drying. You want your fabrics to dry at least part of the way in the dryer so that they can shrink any amount that they might shrink. You don't want to sew your whole quilt and then have your fabrics shrink differently the first time the quilt is washed because this may cause your seems to pucker or even come undone.

4. Square your pieces of fabric once they are washed and dried. To square your fabric you want to fold the fabric in half, lining up the finished edges so that you can trim the unfinished edges so that your fabric can be squared.

5. Line the fold of your fabric up with one of the lines on your cutting mat.

6. Trim the unfinished edges of your fabric so that they are square with the fold. So, the fold is lines up with a horizontal line on your cutting mat, and then using your plastic ruler and rotary cutter you want to trim the unfinished edges along a vertical line, trimming away the least amount of material possible, so that you have a vertical edge that is 90 degrees from the fold.

7. Begin making the cuts for your quilt now that your fabric has been properly prepared for quilting.

Tips & Warnings

• Measure twice, cut once. Following this simple rule can save you a lot of grief when it comes to quilting.