Quilting Tips & Advice

How to Prep Your Quilt Top Before Sending It to a Longarm Quilter

A little prep work before you ship saves time, prevents problems, and helps your longarm quilter do their best work. Here's exactly what to do.

Press Everything — Twice If Needed

The single most important thing you can do is press your quilt top thoroughly before shipping. Use a hot iron and press every seam flat. Lumpy or unpressed seams create bumps under the needle that can cause tension problems and uneven quilting. Press the backing as well.

Trim Loose Threads from the Back

Flip your quilt top over and trim any thread tails or loose threads on the back side. When a quilt is loaded on the longarm, loose threads can get caught or show through the quilting. A few minutes with scissors saves headaches later.

Size Your Backing Correctly

Your backing must be larger than your quilt top — not by a little, but by a lot. The longarm machine needs to clamp or pin the backing to the frame, which requires extra fabric on all sides.

• Backing should be at least 6 inches larger on every side (12 inches total in both width and length)
• For very large quilts, 8 inches on each side is even better
• Use our backing calculator to get the exact yardage

Send a Note

Include a handwritten or printed note in your package with your name, return address, phone number, and any pattern or thread color preferences. Even if you've already communicated by email, a note in the box is a simple safeguard that prevents confusion.

Wonky Borders: Why They Happen and What to Do About Them

Wavy, ruffled, or uneven borders are one of the most common quilting challenges. Here's why they happen and how a longarm quilter handles them.

Why Borders Go Wonky

Wonky borders almost always come down to one of two things: the border strips are cut slightly longer than the quilt edge they're attached to, or the border fabric has a little stretch that wasn't accounted for when sewing. Both are extremely common, especially for newer quilters.

When the border is even slightly longer than the quilt edge, the extra length has to go somewhere — and it turns into waves and ruffles. It's not a flaw in your fabric or your machine; it's geometry.

The Right Fix: Measure Through the Center

The classic quilting advice is to measure your quilt through the center — not along the edges — before cutting border strips. The center measurement is almost always more accurate than the edge measurement, because edges can stretch slightly during handling.

• Measure your quilt from top to bottom through the center
• Cut your side borders to that measurement
• Pin the border to the quilt edge at the center point and each end, then ease any fullness as you sew
• Repeat for top and bottom borders

What Happens on the Longarm

When a quilt with wonky borders arrives on the longarm, we don't reject it — we work with it. The backing is loaded onto the frame under appropriate tension, and the quilt top is smoothed and pinned as evenly as possible. In most cases, the longarm quilting actually helps flatten and stabilize wavy borders significantly.

Choosing the Right Quilt Backing: 42" vs. 108" Wide Fabric

The backing is the part most people think about last — but it deserves real consideration. Here's how to choose between standard and wide backing fabric.

Standard 42"–44" Wide Fabric

Most quilting cotton is sold at 42"–44" wide. For anything larger than a baby quilt, you'll need to piece together multiple panels to get enough width. This means extra yardage and a seam (or two) running through your backing.

Pieced backings are perfectly fine and many quilters love using them as an opportunity to add another design element to the back of the quilt. The key is to press your seams open so they lie as flat as possible.

Wide 108" Backing Fabric

Wide backing fabric — typically sold at 108" wide — eliminates the need for piecing on all but the largest quilts. It's more expensive per yard, but you use significantly less of it, and the math often comes out close to even.

• No piecing seams to worry about
• Faster prep
• Works for queen and king quilts without seams
• Higher cost per yard but less total yardage needed

Which Should You Choose?

For baby and lap quilts, standard fabric is usually fine and more economical. For larger quilts — twin, queen, king — wide backing fabric saves time and eliminates piecing. If you have beautiful fabric you love in your stash, use it for the backing. If you want simplicity, go wide.

What to Do With Leftover Jelly Rolls: Make a Fabric Rope Rug

Most quilters have jelly rolls or fabric cuts they love but haven't used. Here's a way to turn your stash into something beautiful and functional.

What Is a Jelly Roll Rug?

A jelly roll rug (also called a fabric rope rug) is made by coiling and sewing 2.5" cotton fabric strips into a flat, oval or round rug. The result is a durable, washable, one-of-a-kind piece that can anchor a room, sit beside a bed, or work as a kitchen mat.

The beauty of the jelly roll option is that you control the fabric — and therefore the colors and patterns. If you have a jelly roll you bought for a quilt that never happened, or leftover strips from a finished project, those become the raw material for a rug that's truly personal.

What Fabrics Work Best

Cotton works best — it's durable, holds its shape, and washes well. Avoid anything stretchy (like knits) or too loosely woven, as those don't hold up to the coiling and sewing process.

• Standard quilting cotton — ideal
• Pre-cut jelly roll strips (2.5" × 44") — perfect as-is
• Yardage cut into 2.5" strips — works great
• Flannel — works well, produces a softer rug

How Much Do You Need?

The amount depends on the size of the rug you want. A rough guide: a standard jelly roll (40 strips × 2.5" × 44") makes a small rug of about 18"–20" in diameter. For a larger rug you'll need more strips.

Use our rug fabric calculator to enter your desired rug dimensions and get the exact strip count and jelly roll quantity you need before ordering or shipping fabric.

When Do You Pay for Longarm Quilting or a Custom Rug?

Payment timing should feel clear before you send a quilt or fabric. Here's how Old Man Quilting handles invoices for quilts, rugs, fabric deposits, and shipping.

Quilts Are Invoiced After Arrival and Inspection

You do not pay when you submit the order form. First, Tim reviews your quilt size, batting choice, backing needs, add-ons, and timeline. After he confirms the details, you ship the quilt top and backing separately.

Once the quilt arrives, Tim checks the quilt top and backing, confirms any add-ons such as backing piecing or machine binding, and then sends a secure Square payment link before quilting begins.

Rugs With Your Fabric

If you are supplying jelly roll strips or cotton fabric, Tim first confirms how much fabric is needed and what to send. After your fabric arrives and is checked, the final Square invoice is sent before the rug is made.

Rugs Where We Buy Fabric

If Old Man Quilting buys the fabric for your rug, a fabric deposit may be due before fabric is ordered. That deposit is applied to your order. The final balance is due before the finished rug ships home.