How to Select and Prepare Fabric for a Quilt

[@erinmurphy3771]

Leah, I'm learning so much from each of your videos that I have watched. I am relatively new to quilting (2/14), have been reading lots, and have been watching videos such as yours. I love your teaching style, you speak clear and slowly, and review important points several times. Have a wonderful week with your family!

[@lauranicholls5052]

Hi Leah I'm a bit behind as I have only just started this beautiful quilt. I must admit I was one of the sceptics about pre-washing the material but I am so glad I took your advice as today I pre-washed the colours (red, orange, yellow and cream) for this block and the red did bleed really badly, thank goodness I had watched your video because that saved me a lot of wasted material. I love your videos they are so easy to understand and you don't just tell us to do something, you explain why we should do it. I don't know how I am going to get on with this block as it does look really difficult. Thank you for all your help. Laura x

[@LeahDay]

I'm so glad you watched the video and gave prewashing a try! I've had two quilts ruined from bleeding fabric and it's so heartbreaking. That was enough to teach me to always, always, always wash my fabric first. It's definitely a time consuming extra step, but so worth it in the end. Just take your time cutting out the pieces and work one unit at a time. It's really not hard if you take it step by step. Good luck!

[@rabbit00416]

love your teaching!

[@paulasydney]

Totally off topic, I love your scarf!!! Just had to say that :)

[@LeahDay]

Awesome! Thanks!

[@nancyporter4932]

When washing do you use a product or is it just rinsing?

[@LeahDay]

I wash my quilts with regular laundry detergent if it's a bed quilt, throw, or baby quilt. If it's a wall hanging, I usually just soak in the bathtub and wring out, then pin to block flat.

[@mamaduck6845]

How do you decide what increments to slice your yardage for squaring up large sections that will be cut into strips you'll be using? I find this the most terrifying step, cutting my yardage into sections.

[@LeahDay]

Yes, that can be tricky, but I always calculate in at least 4 - 9 inches of extra fabric into my yardage calculations for exactly this reason. When I rip the fabric down, it's usually to the width of my pressing board to make it easier to press. I only keep yardage long when piecing the backing of a quilt together.

[@eloreewilson5548]

Hi Leah. I hope you’re still answering questions on this. I’m looking to make a new quilt for our double bed so I decided to make this one. To do so I would have to quadruple the squares. I had a look at the fabric requirements for the 12 squares. Do I need to quadruple them too? 4 yards of each colour and 14 yards of the cream seems really excessive even for a double bed. Could I get away with getting less? I’m nervous to buy less and then needing to go back later to get more in case I can’t get the same fabric again. Also I don’t want to get too much. Any thoughts?

[@LeahDay]

Great question Eloree! I don't think you need to quadruple the fabric requirements. I think triple should be plenty. I always add a bit extra to the amount for 12 blocks so I think 3 times that amount will give you enough to make the blocks 4 times each.

[@eloreewilson5548]

thanks for the info. Then I have a follow up question. Do you iron and starch all the fabric at once or would you say do a yard at a time. Also I purchased your Explore walking foot quilting book as I really suck at FMQ and will adapt my quilt with the walking foot. You are using minky in this case. I was thinking to possibly use flannel. Do you still use cotton binding strips on the back when connecting the blocks? Thanks again for all your help.

[@LeahDay]

As long as it's not backing fabric, yes, I will cut the yardage down into 1 yard chunks (or the width of my pressing board) and that makes it much more manageable to work with. Yes, you could use flannel if you like. I would use regular 100% cotton fabric for the binding. That will make it much easier to go together.

[@eloreewilson5548]

Sorry for monopolising your time but I have one more question. I think. Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. So this is probably a very stupid question but do you starch flannel? Or do you stabilise it the same way you did the minky with the iron on stuff the name of which eludes me at present.