What to Expect When You Send Your Quilt to a Longarm Quilter: A Step-by-Step Guide
Lots of quilters feel nervous the first time they send their quilt out to a longarm quilter... and honestly? That's completely fair. You've put in hours (probably more than you'd like to admit) and real money into a quilt top that you hope to gift or keep forever — something to be used over and over and snuggled under on the couch or the bed. It's precious cargo.
But I want you to know you don't have to be nervous. If you send your quilt to me, I make sure the process — from your very first inquiry all the way to unboxing your finished quilt at home — is stress-free and completely transparent. I walk you through every single step of the longarm quilting process from the moment I receive your inquiry to the moment your finished quilt lands back on your doorstep, and you'll always know exactly where you stand.
Why Quilters Trust My Longarm Quilting and Binding Services
A few things set my quilting and binding services apart from other longarm quilters out there:
- I almost always have a turnaround of less than two weeks
- You communicate directly with me, Katie... and no one else
- I'm a Type A perfectionist, so I pay close attention to every detail of your quilt
- I offer optional add-on services so you can start using your quilt sooner rather than later
As a modern quilter myself, I know how much this quilt means to you, and I treat every single one that comes through my studio like it's my own.
Step One: Fill Out Your Quilting Request Form
First things first, you'll want to fill out my quilting request form (linked right here). It'll ask you a few quick questions about:
- Your estimated quilt size
- When you'd like your quilt back
- The quilting style or pantograph design you're thinking about
- What type of batting you want, and whether I'm providing it or you're sending your own
- Whether you'd like to purchase backing fabric through me — either 108" wide cotton backing or 90" wide Minky backing, both of which I keep in stock for quilting clients
- Whether you'd like binding services, whether that's me cutting, piecing, and attaching your binding from yardage you provide, or you sending pre-prepped binding for me to machine attach to both sides
What Happens After You Submit Your Form
Wondering what happens next? I'll reach out within the next business day (a little longer if you submit after hours) to let you know I've received your request and where to mail your quilt. I always answer any questions you submitted on your form in that first email, and you're welcome to reply back any time. If new questions pop up between submitting your form and shipping your quilt, I'm more than happy to help — I want you to feel comfortable through the whole process.
How to Prep Your Quilt for Longarm Quilting
Here's a quick recap on getting your quilt ready to send.
Pressing and Trimming
Once your top is completely pieced and assembled, give all your seams a good pressing. It's okay if some of your seams are a little twisted or not laying perfectly — don't worry, I'm not a judgmental quilter. I'm just happy you got this quilt done! Do trim any loose threads, though. This matters a lot if you have a white quilt top paired with dark or high-contrast fabrics on the back — trim those dark threads as best you can so they don't shadow through the white fabric.
Borders
Do your best to make sure your borders lay flat. This one's tough, especially if adding borders is new to you, and there may be some fullness if your fabric. I can remedy that fullness on my longarm quilting machine to an extent.
Marking the Top
If your quilt top has a specific "top," mark it with a safety pin, a strip of painter's tape, or just send me a quick email with a photo showing which end is up. That way we avoid any sad surprises at the end of quilting. This goes for your backing fabric too — if it's directional or has a specific top, note it the same way so I can load your quilt correctly.
Backing Fabric Size
Your backing needs to be 8 inches longer and 8 inches wider than your quilt top. That gives my machine room to attach leaders and load your quilt onto my longarm frame, so I can quilt every single inch of your top without any issues.
Packaging for Your Mail In Quilting Services
Package your quilt in some sort of plastic bag before boxing it up — this protects it from rain, snow, or any other elements during transit. When I ship your finished quilt back, I return it in a water-resistant, reusable laundry bag that you're welcome to reuse for future mail in quilting services with me. One more good rule of thumb: tuck a note with your mailing address and contact info inside the bag itself, just in case something happens to the outer box during shipping.
Don't Have Everything Ready? I Can Help
Maybe you only have your quilt top finished, and you don't have a local shop nearby. No problem — I offer plenty of extra services.
Batting Options
I keep Quilter's Dream 80/20 cotton-poly blend batting on hand, along with 100% cotton Quilter's Dream Deluxe batting. I can also source other specialty battings, usually within a few weeks of your quilt arriving. This saves you a trip to the store and reduces shipping costs on your end too.
Backing Fabric
You can purchase backing fabric directly through me, and I'll simply add it to your final invoice. Just note on your quilting request form that you'd like to purchase backing, and let me know the color and type — 90" Minky or 108" cotton — in the message section. If you're not sure what will look best with your quilt top, once your quilt arrives I can take photos and send you a few options I think would coordinate well.
Piecing Your Backing
If you only have yardage for your backing and you're a little nervous about cutting and seaming it yourself, I've got you. I charge $15 per cotton seam, or $25 per seam for Minky (hello to the mess of Minky). This also ensures your backing is properly sized for your top.
Binding Services
This has become one of the most popular additions to my quilting and binding services. You have two options:
- Full binding service — you provide the binding yardage, and I cut it into 2½" strips, piece, press it in half to a finished 1¼" width, and attach it completely to your quilt.
- Partial binding service — you send me your binding fully prepped (2½" strips, pieced and pressed in half to 1¼" wide, cut to the full length needed for your quilt's perimeter + 12" for buffer), and I machine attach it to the front and back.
This is a perfect option for clients who want to enjoy their quilt the moment it arrives home, no hand-stitching required.
What Happens When Your Quilt Arrives
Once your quilt arrives at the studio, I'll notify you by email. I typically try to confirm design details the same day, but at minimum you'll hear from me that your quilt is safely here — give me a couple of days to follow up with design specifics. From there, I confirm the measurements from your intake form, inspect your quilt to make sure there's enough backing fabric and no issues with the top, and confirm your quilting pattern, thread, and batting selections. If you'd like pantograph and thread suggestions from me, I'll typically send three different pantograph options along with thread choices laid across your quilt top so you can see exactly how it'll look.
Once we've nailed down your design details, thread color, pantograph, batting, and quilting density, I'll let you know your place in my queue — this week or the following — and, if you selected specialty batting, when to expect it to arrive (usually 2–3 weeks from my supplier). Every quilt gets individual attention before quilting even begins. I want your quilt to shine.
The Quilting Process, Step by Step
Here's a peek behind the curtain of my quilting studio:
First, I load your backing, layer it with batting, and stitch a registration line across the top of the sandwich — this gives me a perfectly horizontal reference line on my longarm frame. I line up the top of your quilt with that line to start off square. From there, I identify a vertical seam (usually your center seam) and, using my machine's channel locks, make sure it's running 100% vertically from top to bottom. Then I pick a horizontal seam and confirm it's running perfectly perpendicular using those same channel locks. Once everything checks out, I baste around the top and down both sides.
Now the fun part begins. I load your selected thread, make sure the bobbin thread matches what we're quilting, and set up your edge-to-edge design on my robotics, taking your chosen density into account the whole time.
Then we're off to the races. I start quilting and pay extra attention to tension on that very first pass, making sure every stitch is coming out perfectly. I use the same brand of thread on all of my client quilts, so I rarely have to fuss with tension, but I still like to monitor that first pass closely. After quilting professionally for six years, I've built a lot of confidence around what will look good — thread and fabric color combinations, which pantographs will suit a specific quilt top, even down to fabric manufacturer, and how to make sure complicated pantographs stitch out beautifully even when they need a little extra finesse.
Fast Longarm Quilting Without Sacrificing Quality
If you've watched my YouTube video, you may have heard me talk about the three-legged stool: quality, timeline, and budget. I won't pretend I'm the cheapest quilter on the market, but that's because I'm not sacrificing your timeline or my quality of work. You might pay a little more for my services, but that's because you're not willing to sacrifice fast longarm quilting or craftsmanship for a lower price tag.
Along with that, I make sure to communicate with you every step of the way, so you never feel like you haven't heard from me in months — which I know is a common grievance among quilters working with other longarm services. I want you to feel completely at ease knowing your quilt is safe in my hands and moving quickly through the process, so the excitement you felt finishing your quilt top doesn't fade while it's away being quilted. I want you to get it back in your hands, still excited to bind it, within a couple of weeks.
I do want to stress: working quickly doesn't mean working carelessly. My speed comes from an efficient workflow and careful time management in my studio. I take pride in running like a well-oiled machine, but that never comes at the expense of quality control. It just means I'm doing everything as efficiently, carefully, and professionally as possible.
Quality Checks Before Your Quilt Comes Home
Before I pack up your quilt, I unroll it from the takeup bar and inspect the entire backing to make sure the stitches are just as perfect there as they are on the front. Any threads that need to be knotted and buried get taken care of as I go, and I double-check everything again while photographing your finished quilt. When it's time to prep for shipping, I pack your quilt in a reusable, water-resistant laundry bag, box it up in the appropriate size box, and add any extra insurance you requested on your intake form.
Shipping Your Finished Quilt Home
When I fold your quilt for shipping, I make sure the quilt top is facing inward, not out. I know your top is the most delicate and most important part of the quilt — if anything were to happen during transit, I'd rather it affect the backing. I always tuck in an information card noting the pattern, pantograph, thread color, and batting used for your quilt.
Once everything is packed in my branded Modern Textiles laundry bag and box, I purchase shipping with tracking (plus any additional insurance you selected) so you always know where your quilt is. You'll get an email from me letting you know your quilt is complete, along with preview photos, and tracking information will follow along with your invoice.
About 30 days after your quilt ships, I'll check in to see how everything turned out and whether you'd like to share any feedback. I genuinely appreciate it — good or constructive — because it helps me keep improving for everyone in the quilting community.
Good Communication From Start to Finish
As I mentioned earlier, good communication is one of the things that really sets my studio apart from other longarm quilting services. Every email comes directly from me — there's no one else on my team, so whoever you're hearing from is the person actually working on your quilt. I respond to your questions within the next business day, especially anything related to design changes, batting swaps, or thread color updates.
Here's the quick rundown of when you'll hear from me:
- When you submit your quilting intake form
- When your quilt arrives at my studio
- When we've confirmed your design details (thread, batting, pantograph)
- When your quilt is complete, with sneak-peek photos
- About a month after shipping, to check in
You should never have to wonder where your quilt is in the process. You should feel confident about when you'll get it back, with zero anxiety about sending your quilt out for longarm quilting. For me, this business is about building relationships with my clients, not just completing orders and shipping quilts back out the door.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does quilting take?
For a throw-sized quilt, the actual machine quilting typically takes about half a day, from loading to unloading.
Do I need to provide batting?
Nope! I offer batting for purchase, but if you have a specific type on hand already, feel free to send it along — I'm happy to use whatever high-quality batting you prefer on my longarm.
Can you supply backing fabric?
Absolutely. I keep a variety of 90" wide Minky and 108" wide cotton backing available for purchase for my quilting clients.
Can you bind my quilt?
I'd love to! I offer two binding services. Full service means you supply the binding yardage and I handle cutting, piecing, pressing, and machine attaching it completely. Partial service means you send me pre-folded binding, ready to attach, and I machine bind it fully to your quilt so it comes home completely finished. FYI — I ship all backing, batting, and binding scraps back with your quilt. I've got plenty of my own scraps, so please, take yours back. Lol.
What if my backing isn't large enough?
Don't sweat it — here's a quick fix. If you're okay with a slightly less polished-looking backing, feel free to attach coordinating fabric strips to build out the rectangle or square you need. Remember, your backing needs to be 8 inches longer and 8 inches wider than your quilt top, since my longarm frame needs 4 inches on each side to attach properly. If your backing is just an inch or two short, add 4" strips to each side and I'll do my best to center your quilt top on it.
Do you accept quilts by mail?
I sure do — this is the best way to get your quilt to me. It keeps me focused on quilting throughout the day, and I happen to have one of the best mail carriers around!
How much does longarm quilting cost?
I have pricing examples laid out on my quilting information page — scroll down to pricing for my current rates and an example of how quilting cost is calculated based on quilt size.
What thread do you use?
On about 90% of my quilts, I use Glide Promo Soft, a matte-finish poly thread. For some colors, I use Glide with a bit more of a gloss finish, also a poly thread.
Ready to send your quilt off? Fill out my quilting request form and let's get started — I can't wait to see what you've made!