How to Finish A Quilt, Quilting Services

We also have a few of those handmade quilts that were enthusiastically started and somewhere along the way didn't - quite - get - finished....

No confessions needed. We'll be glad to help you finish those handmade quilts. First, we would appreciate having a little information:

For example, do you know what kind of batting or fill you want, what kind of edging, are you thinking of handquilting or machine quilting? Here's a quick finishing a quilt guide to walk you through quilting basics.

Machine quilted pattern quilting is the simplest and less expensive way to finish a quilt. The same pattern is machine sewn throughout the quilt. With computerized long arm quilting machines, more detailed patterns are also available. The challenge is to decide wehther you want the quilting to take center stage or if you want the pieced fabric design to be the focal point. For our custom made choo choo train quilts (photo) we used a basic half circle pattern design so that it didn't detract from the overall patchwork quilt design.

Bluebird Gardens quilters are very experienced and have been quilting quilts for more than 50 combined years. They are experienced making your quilt look best with quilting.

More intricate, detailed quilts should be finished with outline quilting. Outline quilting helps stabilize the quilt pattern and enhance overall design. Machine outline quilting involves a quilter using a long arm quilting machine and guiding the machine around the areas that need to be featured. Good quilts for outline quilting include photo memory quilts, quilts made out of applique clothing and any quilts where you want to emphasize a design through quilting. The quilting can be done by either hand or machine. Machine outline quilting is less expensive than handquilting. And yes, you can combine pattern quilting with outline quilting.

For your planning purposes, machine outline quilting runs $25 an hour.

The most time consuming and expensive way to finish a quilt is with handquilting. The industry standard for good handquilting is same size stitches that average 8-10 stitches per inch. Some people think handquilting is a fragile way to finish quilts. Actually handquilting is very durable and nicely lasts through a lot of use. The main challenge with handquilted quilts is knowing how to wash and dry them so that you don't break the thread.

Handquilting Queen Quilt 90x90 $250-300 (6-9 months to complete once order is placed)

Always Nice To Add A Personalized Quilt Label

Regardless of how you finish your quilt, we recommend adding a personalized quilt label. You can include the name of the person getting the quilt, the date and the name of the giver and/or quilter. The label helps make the quilt a nice memento of a special occasion such as a wedding, anniversary, graduation, birthday.

Quilts Are Bound To Be Beautiful - and Finished!

So you have the quilt pieced and quilted but you need to have it bound. Once handmade quilts are quilted, they need to have edges finished. We recommend attaching the binding by machine and finishing by hand.

You can either provide your own backing and batting or we can provide it for you. Backing will run around $20-30 for a 90x90 queen size quilt. Batting is $15-30.

Bluebird Gardens is glad to work directly with you answering your questions.

Give Charlotte a call at 877-598-1908 or email us at info@bluebirdgardens.com with your questions for free, no obligation information.

To get your handmade quilt finished, please fill out our online quilt form that immediately follows or email us with specifics for a free, no obligation price quote.

Please allow 3-4 weeks from when the order is placed to complete a machine quilted project. Handquilted projects will take 6 months to 1 year.