Adding More Quilting to a Bound Quilt

[Frank F.]

I have a beautiful quilt which is not completely quilted but I added the binding because the recipient became gravely ill and I wanted her to see the quilt.
she was able to enjoy the quilt for two years before she passed away. The quilt was returned to me and I would like to finish quilting it properly, but I am afraid that it will become distorted. Any suggestions anyone?

[Beverly C.]

Frank, I am sorry about your friend, and don't have the answer to additional quilting, BUT would like to say that it is wonderful to see a post from you. It's like suddenly seeing a friend after a long, long time! You are part of the group that goes waaaaaay back on the forum! Welcome back.

[Beverly C.]

Frank, I’m a longarm quilter and if you lived close by I’d have you bring it over. We could load it on my machine and work from there. So, with that being said, try to find a longarm quilter in your area that would work with you on it. If you want to do it on your personal domestic machine, I think the most important thing would be to baste it a lot! That would keep it from distorting. Also, you could perhaps remove the binding and continue on from where you left off. Take your time and enjoy finishing your special project.

[Nancy R.]

Hi Frank -

I often will bind my quilt before I finish the quilting because I get tired of dealing with the fraying and batting fluff while I'm quilting. I don't know what quilting you need to finish, but my only rule for myself is to finish any lines that would go under the binding before adding the binding. That generally means that I have done all of the stabilizing quilting on the inner portions of the quilt, but I would feel comfortable having that also pin-basted (or whatever basting method you use). So, if you keep everything stabilized, you should be fine. If you need lines that would go under the binding, then I would remove the binding since, with a normal binding, the fabric overlaps a bit further on the back of the quilt than on the front so you can't quilt up to the edge of the binding on the front without sewing over the lip on the back.

Sorry about your friend and hope that working on this quilt will bring you some comfort!

[Betty J.]

Hi Frank! Sorry about your friend. So nice to see you are still quilting. I would do some machine basting with wash away thread to get it pretty stabilized and then you could "quilt as desired" and wash away the basting without any distortion. Just an idea. Hugs.