MQResource

Every so often, a forum member will ask the community whether or not they should be trimming the batting and backing of quilts before returning them to their owners.  Not surprisingly, the answers are always varied, and the quilters that respond have reached many different conclusions.

For

Those quilters that choose to trim usually cite a number of reasons that factor into their decision to trim quilts for customers.

Presentation – a trimmed quilt looks much nicer than an untrimmed quilt when a customer is looking at their quilt at the time of pick up.

Convenience – many of our customers don’t have the space to easily deal with the bulk of a quilt when trying to trim it at home.

Necessity – if you are going to apply a binding, you will have to trim the quilt. 

Against

Quilters who don’t choose to trim quilts for their customers have plenty of reasons for their decision, too.

Caution – one wrong slip of a rotary cutter and a quilt can be ruined.  Better to let the customer be in charge of getting a rotary cutter near their quilt.

More caution – not every quilter likes to trim his or her quilts the same way.  Some trim flush, some leave some extra space around the edges.  Some people will want to use excess backing as a self-binding, requiring a different amount of trimming to be done.  Knowing that there are so many options, some machine quilters will decide not to risk trimming it differently than the quilt owner would choose.

Tips for trimming

If you do decide to trim quilts for customers, here are some words of advice for successfully working with your quilts and your customers.

Ask, ask, ask – when your customer drops off their quilt, make sure you ask if they want their quilt trimmed or not.  If they want it trimmed, how do they want it trimmed?  And it’s probably best to get this in writing (on your check-in form) and have them sign off on all of the decisions they have made.

Measure twice, cut once – before you let that rotary cutter anywhere near the quilt, make sure you are cutting it the way your customer asked you to do so.  And when you do start cutting, be extra super careful, use your best rotary cutting technique to keep your cuts straight with no accidental slips or wobbles in the wrong direction.

Options for cutting – If you want to simply neaten the quilt, you might choose to trim the batting and backing to within 1 or 2 inches of the quilt top, leaving plenty of options for your customers.  You can also have them let you know if they want the trimming flush with the quilt top, or if they want some other width of extra left.

Return the trimmings – make sure your customer knows that the trimmings belong to them (unless they give you permission to do something else with them), and then stick the extras in the bag with their quilt.

To charge or not to charge – is this a service you offer as a part of your service to the customer, or will you charge an extra fee for trimming?  This is a business decision for you to make. 

Personally, I do NOT trim, as I would rather not be responsible for going near a customer quilt with a rotary cutter. I do think that there are some really great reasons that you might choose to trim quilts, and I hope that no matter what you choose to do, you will do it with care and communication.