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When
piecing your quilt blocks be sure that your seam allowances are ¼”, any
thing less will cause weak seams and may fall apart when put on the long arm
machine.
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When
attaching your borders, for the width lay quilt top on a large surface or on
the floor and measure through the center of the quilt top across the width.
This is the measurement that you will cut the top and bottom borders. Sew
them on and press seams towards the border strips. For the side borders lay
quilt top out flat and this time measure through the length in the middle of
the top including the top and bottom borders you just added, this is the
measurement that you will cut your side borders. Sew them on and press the
seams towards the border strips.
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The batting you provide for your quilt must measure at least 8" larger
than your quilt top measurements. So if your quilt top is 50" X 60" than
your batting must be 58" X 68", Gecko Quilts will not be
responsible for piecing or squaring up odd shape batting pieces to get the
proper size needed, please double check that it is the correct size before
your appointment.
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The backing
you provide must measure
at least 8" larger than your quilt top measurements. So if
your quilt top is 50" X 60" than your backing must be 58" X 68", there will
be no exceptions. If you need to piece
your back please cut off all selvages, use a ½” seam allowance and press the seam(s) open. Also please square up your back, and press before dropping it
off for quilting.
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Please
trim off all long threads from the back of the quilt top and make sure all
of the seams are secure. Seams that are not secure will pull apart during
the quilting process, so make sure you back track all of your seams. Gecko
Quilts is not responsible for seams that pull apart do to poor seam
construction.
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Press
quilt top & backing before dropping it off for quilting.
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Do not
attach any trims, notions or decorative items to the quilt top before it is
to be quilted by Gecko Quilts.
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Mark
the top of the quilt with a piece of paper using a safety pin to attach it
if there is a definite top or bottom to your quilt (this is helpful if choosing a one directional pantograph or pattern for
your quilt design or if your quilt has a directional design on it that is
not obvious).
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Do not
baste your quilt layers together before bringing them to Gecko Quilts, the
layers are loaded onto the machine separately.
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Please
print and fill out the order form on the web site as best as you can before coming for
your appointment. This will make it easier and faster when dropping
off the quilt.
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Call to
schedule an appointment to drop off or to discuss any work to be done
on a quilt and to get an estimate.
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When
the quilt is finished I will call you to schedule an appointment for you to
pick up your quilt and give you the final price (usually the estimate price
plus the tax if there is any).
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Payment
is due in full at time of pick up & quilts need to be
picked up and paid for within 2 weeks of completion
any quilts that don't get picked up within 2 weeks with out arranging
something prior with Gecko Quilts at time of drop off (due to vacations
etc...) Will end up being the property of Gecko Quilts and will either be
donated to charity or sold on this website to recoup the cost of quilting. As of now we only accept exact cash, US checks.
No deposits are necessary at the time for drop off.
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Check
the Gecko Quilt's website for the most recent and accurate pricing and
promotions (old brochures will not be honored).
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My turn around time is usually around 2-4 weeks except for
the months of October-May which can be as long as 3 months.
You can call ahead and reserve an appointment to drop off your quilt top
which will reserve your pick up time/completion of your quilt. There
will be no exceptions to this for Gecko Quilts is strictly a first come
first serve business. All customers are treated the same no matter if you
are a snow bird visiting seasonally or a full time resident.
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Gecko
quilts has a $50.00 minimum quilting fee.
This includes wall hangings all the way up to king size bed
quilts.
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When
choosing thread colors it is best to choose colors that blend/ match for the
top & bobbin thread choices. This will reduce the "pokies" effect on
the backing fabric (pokies are the contrasting thread poking through to the
other side of the quilt). Really thin battings can also cause thread tension
problems.
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Another
option is to choose a printed backing fabric, not only will it camouflage
the pokies effect but will also help hide the starts and stops of the
quilting process.
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When
using dark fabrics for quilt top & backing it is best to use a black
batting, if lighter colored batting is used you will have the batting fibers
showing on the dark backing of the quilt.
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Gecko
Quilts has a 12ft quilting table and there for in able to provide proper
tension when quilting the largest quilt top size that Gecko Quilts is able
to do is 110" wide X 114" long. This will allow the required 8" larger
(length and width) for the batting and backing fabric to fit on Gecko Quilts
long arm machine.
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If you
are new to quilting or just new to using a long arm quilter you may be
wondering what a "pantogragh" is. A pantogragh
is a a continuous design (Gecko Quilts have a large variety to choose from)
that is stitched from edge to edge on all four edges of the quilt top that
range from low density, medium density and high density designs. It is also
known as edge to edge designs/quilting by some.
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In
order to keep turn around times to 2-4 weeks Gecko Quilts will only
be offering pantogragh quilting. We will not be doing any custom work,
separate borders, stitch in the ditch etc.... 98% of all quilting done in
the past 6 years of business has been pantogragh quilting so this decision
has been made to provide the quickest turn around times for the majority of
Gecko Quilts customers.
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Also in
2008 Gecko Quilts has eliminated several other services that it previously
offered, such as batting, wide quilt backs and custom embroidered quilt
labels. They were eliminated do to the rising costs of providing these
services.
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Gecko Quilts has decided to break the pantogragh designs into
4 categories,this way the customer will be
able to have more control over the cost of quilting by the designs she
chooses. All 4 types of pantographs count towards the accumulation of the
Quilter's Dozen Promotion. However only the low density and medium density pantogragh designs will be used on the 13th quilt.
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There
will be additional charges for services that aren't included in the quilting
charge, such as squaring up the batting or backing prior to loading the
quilt on the machine for quilting (due to increasing amount of backs and
batts being dropped off either larger than the "8" larger than the quilt
top" measurement or because of it being unsquare and not ready for loading
on the machine). Also a charge for trimming up the quilt after the quilt has
been quilted (due to the large request of keeping this service but I needed
to start charging due to the cost of replacing the rotary blades).
