How to Finish Batting a Quilt
Once a quilt top is pieced, most of the painstaking work is finished. The steps that remain to finish the quilt include assembling the quilt layers, basting the layers together, quilting the layers and sewing on the binding. Choose a high-loft batting for a puffy, thick quilt or choose a low-loft batting for a light quilt suitable for summer. Once you select your batting and baste your quilt layers, you will need to decide how to quilt the layers. Some quilters choose simple quilting and others prefer intricate quilt patterns.
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Things You'll Need
- Quilt top
- Quilt backing
- Quilt batting
- Sewing machine
- Thread
- Pins
- Scissors
- Iron
- Safety pins
- Coordinating fabric for binding
- Quilting ruler
- Cutting mat
- Rotary cutter
Instructions
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1
Make the backing for the quilt. The backing must be at least eight inches larger than the quilt top. Depending upon the size of your quilt, you may need to sew the backing out of more than one piece of fabric. Cut off the selvage edges (the printed edges of the fabric) prior to sewing backing pieces together.
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2
Select your batting for the quilt, keeping in mind that the batting material you use will produce different finished results. Cotton batting is easy to quilt and is ideal for beginners. Polyester batting is inexpensive, but some quilters prefer to work with natural fibers. Wool is warm, yet it is more expensive than other materials. Thin batting is easier to quilt than thick batting. Cut the batting so it is roughly the same size as the backing fabric.
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3
Place the backing fabric onto a flat work surface so that it is smooth, straight and the wrong side is facing up. Place the batting on top of the backing and make sure the corners and edges line up evenly. Place the quilt top on top of the batting and center it evenly between all corners and edges.
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4
Baste the three layers of the quilt with safety pins to hold the layers together. Place pins in the center of the quilt first and space each pin about four inches apart. Work your way out from the center in all directions to the edges of the quilt top. Make sure the safety pins cover the entire surface of the quilt top.
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5
Quilt the three layers of the quilt as desired. If you are using a cotton batting, the distance between the quilting seams can be as much as eight inches. If you are using a polyester batting, the distance between the quilting seams should be between two and four inches. If you are using a wool batting, the distance between the quilting seams can be up to four inches. Some quilters simply stitch along the seams of the quilt top for a very simple quilting method. Other quilters choose to make intricate designs and patterns on the quilt top. Remove the safety pins as you come to them while quilting.
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6
Cut off the extra backing fabric and batting so all three layers are the same size.
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7
Cut 2-inch-wide binding strips from the complementary cotton fabric. Sew the strips together so you have a long, continuous binding strip to sew to the quilt.
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8
Fold the binding strip in half lengthwise with the right sides facing out. Press this fold well with the iron. Sew the binding to the outer edges of the quilt to finish the project.
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