auroraivy

Hello,

I'm new to quilting and I've done everything by hand - I haven't learned how to use a sewing machine yet. I'd like to finish this quilt by hand and I've gotten a lot done.

The problem I am having is that the front the quilt are all small palm-sized squares that allow for stretching and my backing is a solid piece. I didn't take into account the stretch when I measured, cut and started sewing the back on. So, when I was nearly finished I found the front was billowing away from the taut back. This was when I realized I failed to account for the stretch of the front of the quilt because of the squares.

I went ahead and removed half of the side stitching and all of the inside connections from front/filling/back that I had randomly placed throughout the entirety of the quilt - eliminating days of hand stitching work. I've been trying to puzzle out how to manage this quilt and attach the back. I'm at a loss. I don't have a large workspace I could attach my quilt to and clamp it tight to restitch over a long period of time - which is the only viable idea I've come up with. Any ideas or recommendations?

I've attached some pictures.
IMG_1248 is the quilt lying down folded back on itself a bit.
IMG_1249 is a close up of the squares and some trim.
IMG_1251 shows a close up of the filler in the middle that is currently attached to the front of the quilt.
IMG_1252 is the same as 1251 but further back.
IMG_1253 shows me holding the back taut and the front sagging.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Its my first quilt and the largest project I've ever done by hand. The entire quilt is roughly 4.5'x4'.