Help please! Piecing a back

I need your help! I have a quilt top that measures 57 x 75. I bought 4 yards of backing fabric that is 40 inches wide (flannel).
How do I piece the back? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Debby

Hi Debby,
First of all I would wash the flannel to get the shrinkage done.
For piecing I cut it and stitch down the middle. YOu could even take some fabric and make some blocks for the back where it meets in the middle of the backing, something like that.
I've heard that piecing the back can cause stress on the seam but it's never happened to me and I've made many quilts.
Hope this helps!
Sue

If you cut the backing in half so that you have 2 2yd pieces and then sew the longest sides together you should have a piece that is 72 X 80, if I am doing my math right. Now your piece will be big enough.

That's what I do and it works great.

Sounds like they got it covered for you! Good luck and posT pics when finished!!

Ditto to the above ... and absolutely, be sure to pre-shrink being that it's flannel.

Wash in hot water ... dry in hot dryer ... and being that it's flannel, I'd do this at least twice!

Measure it both for width and length after, as sometimes it shrinks a lot and different in the width/length. Better to deal with it now than be disappointed later..

Measurements ... 40" widths double will not give you 80"

Don't forget to take off seam allowances and the selvedges being cut off!

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Originally Posted by QuiltE

Measurements ... 40" widths double will not give you 80"

Don't forget to take off seam allowances and the selvedges being cut off!

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Picky, picky, but true! :wink: Would be a shame to come up short once again.

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Originally Posted by cjomomma

If you cut the backing in half so that you have 2 2yd pieces and then sew the longest sides together you should have a piece that is 72 X 80, if I am doing my math right. Now your piece will be big enough.

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To prevent the seam in the middle of the quilt, you can now take one of those 2-yard pieces and cut IT in the middle, lengthwise.

So, take the 4-yard piece, cut it in half. You now have two 40 x 72" pieces.

Fold and find the middle (lengthwise) of one of these pieces, and cut down the middle.

Now you have:
- one 40 x 72" piece
- two 20 x 72" pieces

Sew one of the 20" wide pieces to each side of the 40" piece. Your backing is now 72" x 79.5".

Now you've distributed the stress more evenly throughout the back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cjomomma

If you cut the backing in half so that you have 2 2yd pieces and then sew the longest sides together you should have a piece that is 72 X 80, if I am doing my math right. Now your piece will be big enough.

That's what I do and it works great.

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Your math is close; if the selvedge, shrinkage, and seam allowance don't take away too much it should be plenty wide for the 75" dimension.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LindaM

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cjomomma

If you cut the backing in half so that you have 2 2yd pieces and then sew the longest sides together you should have a piece that is 72 X 80, if I am doing my math right. Now your piece will be big enough.

---

To prevent the seam in the middle of the quilt, you can now take one of those 2-yard pieces and cut IT in the middle, lengthwise.

So, take the 4-yard piece, cut it in half. You now have two 40 x 72" pieces.

Fold and find the middle (lengthwise) of one of these pieces, and cut down the middle.

Now you have:
- one 40 x 72" piece
- two 20 x 72" pieces

Sew one of the 20" wide pieces to each side of the 40" piece. Your backing is now 72" x 79.5".

Now you've distributed the stress more evenly throughout the back.

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This is the way I also do backings, agree totally. You never want a seam down the middle, always ditbribute the stress evenly.