Here is a handy trick that might help you out. When you finish quilting and before you get your binding on, sew a ribbon, the kind that is only 1/8-inch wide, and sew it down the edge of your quilt. Like the borders, you need to measure through the center of the quilt to get the proper length and width for the ribbon. Once you sew it on, simply add your binding as usual. The ribbon, because it was sewed to the edge and is only 1/8-inch wide, will be completely covered by the binding and no one but you will know it is there. I'm not quite sure why but it really helps to keep a quilt from waving at us.

I know when I am piecing, often I will starch my fabrics pretty good and that usually keeps any of the units that are on bias from stretching. Things like diamonds almost always get starched to death and I haven't had too many problems.

Working with triangles is tough try to keep the outside edge on the straight grain of fab, If can't try very hard not to stretch the fab when working with it,even blocks can get out of shape quickly if tris. stretch.

thanks guys. I have the quilt on the quilting hoop now and I think I got most of the waves out. will try to post it after I'm finished.

[/quote]
Here is a handy trick that might help you out. When you finish quilting and before you get your binding on, sew a ribbon, the kind that is only 1/8-inch wide, and sew it down the edge of your quilt. Like the borders, you need to measure through the center of the quilt to get the proper length and width for the ribbon. Once you sew it on, simply add your binding as usual. The ribbon, because it was sewed to the edge and is only 1/8-inch wide, will be completely covered by the binding and no one but you will know it is there. I'm not quite sure why but it really helps to keep a quilt from waving at us.[/quote]

That's a unique trick that I have never heard of before, but makes perfect sense when you describe it. Thanks for sharing that!

Tiffany said:[/quote]
Here is a handy trick that might help you out. When you finish quilting and before you get your binding on, sew a ribbon, the kind that is only 1/8-inch wide, and sew it down the edge of your quilt. Like the borders, you need to measure through the center of the quilt to get the proper length and width for the ribbon. Once you sew it on, simply add your binding as usual. The ribbon, because it was sewed to the edge and is only 1/8-inch wide, will be completely covered by the binding and no one but you will know it is there. I'm not quite sure why but it really helps to keep a quilt from waving at us.[/quote]

That's a unique trick that I have never heard of before, but makes perfect sense when you describe it. Thanks for sharing that![/quote]

Sharon Schamber, an award winning quilter has a video (actually 2) that may help. She explains that starch actually helps shrink the cotton fibers and you can eliminate some waves. Then you can secure it with the tape and base to hold until it is quilted. Here is a link to the video. Good luck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6aplw_tVZc

When cutting triangles from a square if you cut once from corner to corner the long side is a bias. If you cut twice from corner to corner the 2 inside cuts are bias and the outside is a straight grain. When I teach I tell my students to put a pin or some kind of mark on the straight of grain edge so they know which is the straight of grain when putting pieces together.

I know this won't help current problem but it may save frustration in the future.

Longarm

Now that is a smart little tip! I'm going to keep a chalk pencil at my cutting station just for this. Thank you!

I know one way to avoid wavey borders is to never just slap the fabric on and start sewing. It's important to measure through the center of the quilt to get an accurate measure of the true size of the top. Measure the width through the center and cut out the borders to match these measurements exactly. Then pin the border to the quilt. Pinning may not seem important but it keeps the feed dogs from shifting the fabric, which is a great way to end up with puckers or a wave. If you first pin the edges, then match up the centers and pin that, then you can begin to pin the rest of the border to the quilt top. This way if you need to ease or stretch the fabric at all, you'll be able to do it across the entire quilt evenly, again so that no one area puckers or waves. Once your side or top and bottom borders are on, simple measure through the quilt top again for the correct measurement and cut out the last two borders to fit. Pin, sew, and enjoy borders that don't wave all the time.

Hope that makes sense and helps someone.