Top 6 Tips on Squaring Up a Quilt Sandwich
In this blog post, I’ll be taking you through my top six tips in squaring up a quilt and share some of my secret tools I use for this step. If you like the quilt shown throughout this blog post, you can download it here. It’s called the Triangle Multiplier quilt.
What You'll Need
- Untrimmed, quilt sandwich
- Coordinating 50wt cotton thread(s)
- Basic sewing machine
- Fabric scissors
- Iron
- Ironing board
- Water spray bottle or flatter spray (optional)
- Rotary cutter
- Spare rotary cutter blades (optional)
- Knee pads (optional)
- Large cutting mat, the biggest possible, i.e., 24in x 36in
- Long quilting ruler(s) to get longer lengths of cuts, i.e., 6in x 24in
- Medium quilting ruler to measure and cut corners of the quilt, i.e., 12½in x 12½
- Ruler connector (optional)
- Fabric pen or pencil (optional)
- Measuring tape (optional)
Top 6 Tips on Squaring Up a Quilt Sandwich
Tip 1: Keep it Together
Prior to trimming any excess quilt batting and backing fabric, when I’m done quilting up the quilt sandwich, I like to sew approximately ⅛in away from the edge of the quilt top to provide additional reinforcement to the quilt sandwich. If you’ve taken your quilt to a longarm quilter, most of them have done this for you. The purpose of this is so that the three layers of the quilt do not move about or flip up as you’re squaring up the quilt.
With this stitch around the quilt, you could use the stitch length used to quilt the project, i.e., 2.5mm to 3.0mm. Alternatively, you could speed things up and bump up the stitch length to the highest setting on your domestic sewing machine. In the example shown below, I used 5.0mm stitch length.
When it comes to squaring up the project. It is okay to trim away some of these enforcement stitches to give your final project a cleaner finish, and hide any of the quilt’s imperfections caused from inaccurate piecing or the distortion from quilting process, especially around the corners and edges of the quilt top. As long as a majority of the enforcement stitches stay intact, you’re fine.
Tip 2: Flatten it Out
Similar to cutting into fabrics for a new quilt project or trimming (or squaring up) a quick block or unit, you may want to run the iron over your project to remove any wrinkles and creases. In particular if the quilt had to travel from the longarm quilter or it has been tucked away in your work in progress pile. Removing these creases and wrinkles are going to help with getting those mitred corners looking sharp and edges straight.
If you’re dealing with stubborn creases in the quilt sandwich, you could mist your quilt with water or spray a bit of flatter spray in the problem areas before going over them with an iron.
Tip 3: Work on Hard Surfaces
I learnt this the hard way (and pun intended). For my first quilts, I squared them up on the carpet. With the softer and uneven surface, the corners and edges of the quilt never completely came out straight and I had to apply more pressure on the ruler and rotary cutter to compensate for the plushie surface.
It is always good to clear a large space on a hard surface floor or large table to square your quilts. Of course, always use a cutting mat to protect your surface and reposition the cutting mat or quilt accordingly.
Tip 4: Protect Yourself
Now, this might sound ridiculous… It’s not an essential, but after you use it the first time, it will become an essential. I’m talking knee pads:
These are going to come in handy if you are squaring up your quilt sandwich on a hard surface floor, especially if you’re going to spend some time down there or even just marking out your quilting guidelines from the previous step in the quilt making process. Trust me on this one, you’re going to love it!
Tip 5: Greater Lengths
Wouldn’t it be nice if you had an extra-long quilting ruler to get more out of one cut? Well, you can with this little contraption called a ruler connector by Fiskars. This allows you to join two acrylic quilting rulers to give it extra length for longer cuts. Making it the perfect tool for squaring up quilt sandwiches.
Personally, I like to combine the longest ruler I have which is the 6in x 24in ruler for the length and a wider ruler like a 12½in square to measure my mitred corners to get the perfect 90-degree corner.
You can watch the ruler connector in action in this Instagram Reel I posted a little while back. It’s pretty neat!
Tip 6: Make a Mark
If you’re concerned about not being able to get mitred corners, and your sides looking straight and lined up, you could use a fabric pen or pencil to mark out where to trim before any cutting takes place. This idea sort of comes back to the notion of, ‘measure twice, cut once’. You don’t want to cut into your beautiful work that you spent so much time on, and to only realise you’re going to cut some part of your final quilt design.
This wraps up my top 6 tips. I hope these tips and tools come in handy when it comes to squaring up your next quilt project! If you like the quilt shown throughout this blog post, you can download it here. It’s called the Triangle Multiplier quilt.
This blog post is written by a Fiskars brand ambassador and sponsored by Fiskars. This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you use these links to buy something, I may receive a commission.