MFord

Hi, all!

Ok, I'm sure no one else has ever done this! I am making a 56x52 inch quilt for the annual Washington State Linus Project meeting. I've been working my buns off for about 7 weeks, designing, cutting, throwing away, cutting some more, sewing, unsewing...you get the picture. So, I decided to prewash the backing as I am using flannel and didn't know how much it would shrink. Then I decided I'd better wash the quilt top, too, so it didn't shrink too much after the quilt is finished.

Ooh, bad mistake! I sewed the raw edges to keep them from raveling, not remembering that the whole back of the quilt was raw edges. So, it came out with immense thread wads on the back, and some of the fabric shrank more than the others, so the quilt top, even after ironing, is very wavy - think hills and valleys. What to do to salvage this? The quilt is due on Tuesday. Thanks for any suggestions!

Margaret

mommysewist

Can you dampen it again and press it (very carefully) while it's wet? Then hopefully simple quilting and wash it when it's finished to hide mistakes left.

Maggie_Sue

Mommysewist very good suggestion in my opinion!!! You can do it, and it will be fine!!!

Tartan

Use a spray bottle to mist the top and block it out to dry. Once dry, quilt the heck out of it or use a high loft batt.

dunster

You're wrong about one thing - you're definitely not the first to do this!

kaelynangelfoot

I've had some success with blocking quilt tops. http://www.adventurequilter.com/e-Le.../Blocking.html

This tutorial is for a finished quilt but the principle is the same for a top only. Also works well for quilts warped slightly by quilting.

ManiacQuilter2

My heart breaks for you with all the work you put into it. You have to try your best to get the threads clipped and get it into some sort of flatness so it can be quilted. Don't give up. I spent over an hour trying to undo a mess of yarn for this friend. Someone had dropped of bags of yarns at the Senior Center. It takes a lot of patient and I only had to cut the yarn once. I find when I have a problem with a quilt, I will work on it for 15 minutes, then walk away and do a household chore and then come back to it refreshed and work on in for a bit more. Hopefully, it will make the task easier to get it done especially with the deadline looming.

GingerK

I too have had luck with blocking, including straightening a panel that was skewed so badly, that even the LQS suggested giving it up as a lost cause. I would start by measuring and marking the size needed on a flat surface. Lay down one side and tape the heck out of it. Then mist, stretch and tape down the opposite side. Then do the same with the last two sides. You may have to really wet down some of the shrunken areas, to get them to stretch enough but it CAN be done! Good luck!

bearisgray

One of the reasons I wash all washable components before cutting them is because I have had experiences like yours.
I decided that I would rather spend the time "up front" with the washing and drying - and not have to again deal with uneven shrinkage and/or bleeds.

And when it gets wet again, the fibers will revert to the size they want to be.

There are some that believe that dense quilting will stabilize/minimize the shrinking/reshrinking. I do not know if these inidividuals have measured the size of their items before and after washing them or not.

RedGarnet222

Uh Huh .. me too! I cut away the threads and pressed all the seams from the back to straighten out the quilt and then it was fine. Took a ton of time, but it worked.