Thread: piecing back - selvedge to selvedge

When I have to piece a backing horizontally I used to trim off the selvedg as carefully as I could and then sew my 1/2" seam. The results were "iffy" at best as to how straight my cutting had been. Now I leave the selvedge on until after I sew the seam - using a seam allowance that is the width of the selvedge plus 1/2". This works so much better for me! When I told my BQF (best quilty friend) about this she informed me that she's been doing it this way for a while. So ... in case I'm not the last one on the planet to figure this out ... here's to straighter seams!

I prefer larger backings and seam vertically when I can, but ... lately they seem to all come out better horizontally. I quilt them myself on my domestic machine.

Good info...

I've been doing it this way, too...never even thought about trimming first. I do lots of things wrong with quilting, but I am self taught...no lessons for me..

I may give this a try next time. I always snip and rip the selvedges off.

Originally Posted by Holice

Have you tried John Flynn's method of cutting and piecing the back on the diagonal. Sure saves fabric.

Holice-- Try as I might, I can't make sense of the John Flynn method! Maybe you could clue me in to what I'm missing? Seem like it makes no sense to cut fabric diagonally, sew it back together and it's LARGER??? I don't get it...

Originally Posted by Pinkiris

Holice-- Try as I might, I can't make sense of the John Flynn method! Maybe you could clue me in to what I'm missing? Seem like it makes no sense to cut fabric diagonally, sew it back together and it's LARGER??? I don't get it...

The main idea to this method is the seam on the roller is NOT all in the same place, which can cause a major problem when you roll the backing onto the roller. By cutting and having the backing on the angle, that backing seam is spread evenlly across the roller....Hope that makes sense

Originally Posted by Pinkiris

Holice-- Try as I might, I can't make sense of the John Flynn method! Maybe you could clue me in to what I'm missing? Seem like it makes no sense to cut fabric diagonally, sew it back together and it's LARGER??? I don't get it...

Here goes -- if you make a paper sample it may help you get the picture.
1. Get a sheet of paper (8 1/2 x 11 works great).
2. Fold it across the diagonal and cut on the fold.
3. Now, lay the pieces on a flat surface cut edges together and slide the right side toward you. See how the overall width of the paper gets wider? This is what happens with the fabric back -- after you make the cut you move the fabric up or down until the piece is wide enough and long enough for the back.

For me it is great because it saves fabric (if you are doing a big quilt and the fat back is not quite big enough, this still works. The other thing I like is that the diagonal does not usually match any seams -- I hate it when the back seam winds up an exact match for one of my long pieced seams. (Since I normally use my home machine I don't have the problem with the roller.)

There is a formula out there that allows you to calculate the fabric you need: http://www.multi-patch.com/html/fabric_calc.php