The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

[GuitarGramma]

Hello Everyone,

I've posted many questions here on the forum about the charity quilt a group of us are making. The top is done and back from the Long Armer.

Unfortunately, the LA ruined the two bottom corners of the quilt. We sent a perfectly square quilt, but the bottom two corners are now skewed to the right. There's no way to undo the quilting to fix this.

The quilt uses Jinny Beyer border fabrics which are quite unforgiving. The border pattern has a green and a blue quarter-inch line. The green line basically disappears under the binding, and the binding is supposed to wrap around and be hand sewn to the blue line.

But now the blue line's not straight. I can see two ways of fixing this:
1. Trim the quilt 1/4" away from the blue line, then hand sew the binding. In the end, the edge of the quilt will not be perfectly square, but the pattern will stay true: binding touches the blue line at all times.
2. Trim the quilt 1/2" from the blue line, letting the blue line meander to the right. Then, hand sew the binding so that it still touches the blue line. Now the outside of the quilt will be straight and square, but the width of the binding on the front of the quilt will vary by about 1/4" depending on how skewed the quilt top is.

What do you think would look best?

[JulieC]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

Oh, my. I would go with option #1, the pattern will fool the eye, and odds are no one will notice it isn't perfectly square.

[KarenC]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

I agree with Julie, option 1.

[Vonnie]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

Agree, then wash it.

[JCY]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

I don't have an answer to your quilt problem -- how disappointing! I hope it all works out. Did the LAer make any apologies for her messing it up?

[Rhonda K]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

Has the extra batting been trimmed from the quilt?

Here is another option that might for you. Lightly dampen the corners of the quilt. Put a large square ruler over the corners and pull until square again. I pin to the ironing board and iron until dry or allow to air dry.

The quilt can usually be pulled into square by a quarter inch. Hope that helps.

If the binding has been sewn onto the quilt, you may still be able to block the corners.

[SuzanneOrleansOntario]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

I can't offer anything more than what others have suggested.

How frustrating! I'm certain the best solution will reveal itself and it will be stunning. Please post when you're done.

[grammaterry]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

Oh I would be sickened. You girls are so smart to even be able to imagine options. My heart aches for you

[DeniseSm]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

I agree with what Rhonda said. Google how to block a quilt and you will find numerous videos. An important tip when blocking a quilt is to be sure to use pins that will not rust when wet and discolor the quilt.

If blocking doesn't solve the problem I would go with option 1. The eye will see the line meander. The eye will probably not see that the corner is not square.

[cv quilter]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

Oh how frustrating ! I am sorry to read that the LA did this. I have never had to block a quilt before, so am learning from your misfortune. I do feel that if the blocking doesn't work, Option 1 would be the one I'd try.

[GuitarGramma]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

Thank you! I'm going to try blocking the corners, as I haven't trimmed yet. That's such a great idea.

Then, no matter what, I'll do a consistent width on the binding. I love that everyone felt that would look best.

I was not involved in the quilting process, so I don't even know who the LA is. I believe the quilt was sent to be quilted by someone in Illinois. She probably didn't even notice she'd skewed the end. I thought that a good LA tacks down the edges before running the quilting pattern. That surely didn't happen on this quilt. But we won't be getting an apology.

In fact, I don't think I'll let anyone else on the team know about this. Everyone worked so hard, and I don't want to leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth here in the home stretch, especially my friend who choose the LA! I'm just going to block, bind, and keep my mouth shut.

Thank you all for your input. It's so good to see a pathway forward.

[MSN]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

Toni, you are a gracious and kind woman.

[Patty J]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

Agree with MSN, you are a good friend and a kind lady. Giving the LA the benefit of doubt. I bet that it will still be an awesome quilt and no one will see what you noticed.

[kensington]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

I don't tack or baste all sides of a quilt before I quilt it. I do a basting stitch across the top edge after putting it on LA, before quilting.

[Lyndaj]

Re: The LA ruined my perfectly square corners

I baste down the sides as I roll the quilt.