I am new at quilting and now have a problem plus many questions.
1. I have a quilt ready to put backing, batting, and top together. BUT My backing isnt big enough just the size of quilt. NOW can I still on my machine quilt it starting in the middle and going to the edge. Why cant I sew the tops together and just start quilting down and trim edges when I am done. Why do you have to pull backing so tight( if your sewing from the middle to the edge, doesnt that just automatically straighten the fabric, Dont who else to ask, except here. Thanks - J

It is very difficult to get a quilt perfectly square. Shifting during the sandwiching, basting and quilting process can cause the top to no longer match the back perfectly. You really should get some complimentary fabric to your back and sew a border on to your back giving you another 4 to 6 inches all the way around. If you do not, you may find that when you reach the outside edges of your quilt in the quilting process you will have no backing. Not only that but as you get to the edges of your quilt you have nothing to hang on to without a bit of excess backing. Finally, most battings are cut a bit larger so when you sandwich, if your back is not bigger and you have the batting covering your back, it is downright impossible to line those edges up perfectly without a clear line of sight.

Of course you could trim everything down once finished but that could impact the design of your top.

You want your backing stretched taunt for basting to avoid getting pleats and puckers which can easily happen as you machine or even hand quilt if it was not taunt in the sandwiching - basting process.

You can piece your backing to make it big enough.

Can you piece the back? Because you need a little wiggle room and it's better to have more around the edge than "just enough".

If you don't have a taught back you may end up with folds/puckers. Sometimes it just happens, but if it's smooth to begin with you're better off.

Sewing from the middle out helps for the back to "ease out" and flatten, but sewing can only do so much, kwim?

When you baste the sandwich, if you don't have the backing taught, it's easy to baste puckers and folds into your sandwich..

Stretching the backing just taut, but not tightly, keeps the backing from puckering while quilting. If you pull it too tightly, that will cause wrinkles and puckers too.

Yes, starting at the center and working outwards does keep the sandwich more flat and straight, but the actual act of stitching it all together, does make the sandwich shrink in a bit. For some reason, the backing tends to shrink/pull in more during quilting than the top does.

These answers are all helping. I really am upset withmyself because the backing material is so pretty and I hate to put edges on it. And then cut part of it away to square up the quilt. Thanks again. - J

Cutting to square up is an important step. If you go ahead and to what seems logical to you now, then you'll know the reason why it won't work the way you think it would. I learned more from my mistakes then by listening to others even when I was told that won't work. :lol:

if you do not make your backing larger you will have to cut off part of the top when you finish quilting....so if that is ok, then use the back you have...but quilting just like embroidery and applique (pulls) the fabric up some and causes you to be -off- and not square anymore. after quilting the quilt has to be trimmed and squared before binding...if your backing is not large enough you loose some of the top.

are you hand or machine quilting