Thread: Math help with backing

I seriously lack in the ability to figure out how to lay out my backing. Here's what I've got. I've got a 60"x60" top. For the backing, I have 2 yards of a yellow fabric and 1 yard of blue/yellow fabric. What I want to do is have a strip of yellow, a strip of blue leaf, then another strip of yellow. I'm not sure if this is making sense. How wide should each strip be?

Help me with the math!!!

Thanks

Each strip should be FINISHED at 20" wide. You will cut the center blue strip 20 1/2" wide by 68" long, which will allow plenty of fabric for it to be sandwiched for quilting. The yellow strips need to be cut 24" by 68", which allows plenty of fabric on the sides of the quilt. I'm not always sure what a LA quilter wants for extra fabric to be able to quilt it comfortably. You will have to piece the yellow/blue fabric to get your total of 68" in length. Hope this helps.

Thinking about this again- you won't have enough width on the yellow fabric to make it 24" wide because you need two cuts 24" wide and your fabric most likely is nearer to 42-45". How is it to be quilted? I don't have to have more than a couple inches around the edges to quilt on my domestic machine or by hand. But it takes more for a LAQ. It would require more fabric in that case.

Originally Posted by janedee

I'm so glad I'm not the only one to have mental blocks like this lol x

Ditto! Backs give me the most problem. I have a mental block on figuring it out. I also really struggle with getting the backing squared - when using only one fabric for the back and it is a larger back. So much fabric to manhandle. I am thinking I must surely be making it harder than it is!

Originally Posted by JEM2012

What is the width of the fabric? I'm assuming 42 or 44 in? If so, I don't think there is a way to do it without a seam in the middle of the blue/yellow piece. 2 yards = 72 inches of fabric. 1 yard = 36 inches of fabric.

If it's 44" fabric, and you want 2 inches on all sides of the quilt top for quilting, you could do it like this:

Cut the yellow fabric down to 64", so you have a big 64" x 44" piece. Cut the 64" piece in half lengthwise so that you have two 64" by 22" pieces (the top and bottom yellow strip).

Cut the blue fabric down to 32", so you have a 32" x 44" piece. Cut that piece in half lengthwise so that you have two 32" x 22" pieces. Sew these together on the shorter seam to make one 64" x 22" piece.

The end sandwich would be:
Yellow: 64" x 22" piece
Blue/yellow: two 32" x 22" pieces sewn together, for a 64" x 22" piece
Yellow: 64" x 22" piece

You would have enough yellow left over to do a yellow strip between the two blue/yellow pieces, if you want (which would look sort of like a letter I), but you don't have enough blue/yellow to go all the way across without some kind of seam in the middle, I don't think.

Perfect, perfect, perfect!! It worked. Thank you, Jem2012!!! I can't thank you enough!!!

Cut the yellow fabric in half along the fold. Call this fabric A
Cut the other fabric in half along the fold. Call this fabric B.
Sew two SHORT sides of fabric B together to make one long 22" wide (or so) section.
Sew one A half to the long B section. Press. (The lengths may not match but that's okay.)
Sew the second half of A to the other side of the B section.

The finished pieced back will look like this. Trim as needed. IF your backing fabrics were at least 43" wide, you will have a pieced backing that is approximately 63" wide, barely enough extra to make it easy for quilting.

Jan in VA