Originally Posted by Maia B
If the back is pieced, like rows of patchwork, spare blocks, etc. then how much excess should be at the top? How you get it so that the top of the backing lines up with the top of the front, approximately? Gosh, this even sounds dumb to me, lol.
You won't be able to have the top of the backing line up with the top of the front. The backing will always be larger than the top when you are taking it to a longarmer. Because of the way LA'ers have to load the quilt on the frame, they require the top to be the smallest part of the quilt.
The way to have the top of the backing line up with the top of the quilt is to lay it out on a floor, pin it, and quilt it yourself. Or - (this just occurred to me) you COULD sew a piece of scrap onto the backing, which would move the top of the backing down a bit, but I'd be worried about the guesswork involved in that.