SQUARING UP YOUR BACK

Once you have found that perfect fabric for your backing, purchase enough to allow for the extra eight-inches plus for the several inches you may lose in the squaring process. In order to avoid creating tucks or puckers during the quilting process, the backing must lay flat and be square for proper loading onto the longarm. If we must square it, there will be an additional charge.

If you cut two or more pieces of fabric and join them to piece a back, no matter how careful you are, it will need to be squared again. Do not tear on the grain, as that will distort the fabric. Even 108-inch fabric will need to be squared.

Squaring up the back:

1. Fold the backing in half, lining up the side edges. Holding the backing by these edges, check that the fold you made hangs straight. If the fold does not hang straight, slide the edges in opposite directions until the fold hangs straight. This will probably mean that the edges do not meet exactly. Smooth the fabric.

2. Take the fold and bring it to the edges. Check to make sure that the new fold hangs straight and adjust as needed. Smooth.

3. Continue to bring the fold up to the edges, adjusting as before, until the width will fit on your cutting surface. Make sure that each layer of fabric is tucked snuggly into the fold and all layers have been smoothed.

4. Using the grid on your cutting mat, line up the fold straight along a line. Then, using a long ruler, lined up along a perpendicular line, cut one end using your rotary cutter. Repeat for the other end.

5. Next, folding the backing widthwise, repeat the process on each of the width sides.

You now have a square back!

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