Back To Basics: Squaring Off Your Quilt Top

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Bold Notion Quilting / YouTube

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Squaring Off

No matter what quilt you’re stitching up, it’s often a necessity to square off the quilt top. Unfortunately, it can come as a bit of a challenge to some, especially beginning quilters.

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Fortunately, YouTube now exists, so you can learn how to square up a quilt in no time at all. That’s how I learned to do it, and now, with the help of Bold Notion Quilting, I’ll teach you.

How It’s Done

The majority of the work is simply using a quilting ruler to cut the edges of the quilt into a straight line, removing the excess batting and backing fabric.

To cut, you’ll want a rotary cutter. Using scissors here is just not a good idea, and your quilt won’t turn out perfectly straight. You’ll also want a flat surface to work on.

A lot of this process is also making sure not to get your fabrics tangled up. You want them flat and ironed out enough that the quilt truly is squared off.

Once you start trimming like Bold Notion Quilting lays out below, here’s what you’ll want to look for.

You want to make sure that there’s about 1/8 of an inch of excess around the edges. These edges will be covered by the binding, but if it’s too big, then the edges can get in the way. Too small, and it won’t stay in place.

Watch the video below for step-by-step instructions, then get started squaring off your own quilt. Happy Quilting!