If you happen to follow me on Instagram, you may have seen a post or two with me griping about cutting threads off the back of quilt tops. I’ve probably even mentioned it on blog posts too, as it’s the absolute worst step in the quilting process, I think anyway!
Not only is this step tedious, it’s really time consuming. On some quilt tops, I’ve literally spent 8-10 hours trimming threads. That’s a lot of hours! But I look at it this way, if I’ve spent a ton of money, time and energy making a quilt, I might as well do it right. Plus I want my quilts to be as best as they can be.
My longarmer told me about quilters who skip this step, and why they shouldn’t. One main reason is that if a light background fabric is used, all those threads on the back will show against it, especially the darker colored ones. Also, uncut threads will most definitely ruin the smoothness of the front. Whatever is left uncut on the back is sure to make a lumpy and bulky front, and that’s not a good look.
Secondly, longarm quilters don’t like getting tops full of uncut threads because it’s going to make their job look messy, even if they’re a great longarmer. I guess it’s kind of quilting etiquette. 😉
Here’s a look at a quilt top back I’ve recently finished trimming, before and after. What a difference!
All that trimming made for a nice, fresh front. It was definitely worth the effort.
And here’s the finished quilt. Even though I used pastel solids, threads left uncut would have certainly shown through on the white fabric. (Pattern is Sweet Stripes. This baby quilt is currently for sale in my Etsy shop)
So the next time there are threads to be cut, I’ll do the lousy task and try to tone down my complaining…I guess it’s not all that bad once I get started…plus my quilt top AND longarmer will thank me. 🙂
Monday Morning Designs 