Squaring up your quilt top feels very important because this is how your quilt top will get its final shape.
Whether you get your quilt back from the longarm quilter or you decide to do the quilting yourself. This post will show you how to square up your quilt top after the quilting is all finished.
This process is made much easier if you add your quilt borders to your quilt properly. I go over this in a previous post which I will link below.
Gather your Tools
- Rotary cutting mat
- Your largest quilting ruler
- Rotary cutter
Squaring Up Your Quilt Top
- Lay out your quilt on a large flat surface. I use my floor but you can use a large table if you are lucky enough to have one.
- Smooth out the quilt top making sure the quilt is truly flat with no wrinkles.
- Slide your mat under one corner of your quilt top.
- Grab your largest square ruler or your longest quilt ruler. Lay your ruler on the corner of the quilt top.
Quilter's Note
These next steps all depend on how big your final border is for your quilt. Please understand the measurements I give are for this specific quilt top only.
5. Line up your ruler on the corner of the quilt. To make the ruler square to the quilt you need to line up the last vertical and horizontal seam with the lines on the ruler. In this case, I lined up the 2 1/2” line on my ruler with the last vertical and horizontal seam of my quilt.
Grab your rotary blade and carefully cut out this corner.
Now that you know that corner of your quilt is square. Decide which side of the quilt you want to start trimming off next.
6. With that done, you will want to line up the lower half of your ruler with the edge of your quilt that you have already cut.
The upper half of your ruler needs to line up with the final seam. In this case, I lined up the final seam on the 2 1/2” line on my ruler.
Once you have lined up those two things make another cut. Continue repeating these steps until you make your way all around the quilt.
Quilty Theory
By only using half of the ruler, you make sure that your straight edge doesn’t veer to the left or right of the straight edge you have created.
Quilter's Tip
As you move and shift the quilt in order to make the cuts as needed. Smooth out your quilt each time make sure it is flat with no wrinkles.
After repeating the steps above you will now have a squared-up quilt top! Congratulations! Know that this process will only get easier the more you practice.
If you found this helpful please share this with a friend. If you don’t want to miss out on future quilt posts like this one consider subscribing to the newsletter. Thank you and I hope you have a great day.
