Originally Posted by
indycat32
What do those of you who enter quilt shows use on the back of the quilt. I'm considering entering the Bloomington, IN quilt show next year. One of the rules is "contain some quilting that can be seen from the back." It doesn't say how much quilting. I always use a print fabric as my backing which wouldn't work, but do you think a tone on tone be OK. I don't want to use muslin. I find that boring. And are pieced backings acceptable? This is a non-juried show, so all entries which follow the rules are accepted; prizes and ribbons are awarded.
1. You can use any backing fabric you like for your quilt. Quilting “that can be seen from the back” means you should not have a false back on it....example: a false back could be a quilt that you have quilted and then covered over the back of the quilted piece to hide any knots, loose threads, tension problems, etc. and covering back fabric has no quilting on it.
2. Your “best friend” is using a busy backing. A busy back hides a lot of mistakes.
3. Pieced backings are acceptable. When a Judge is looking at the back of the quilt, they are not evaluating the type of fabric you used or whether it has been pieced or not. They are looking for tension problems, stops and starts (preferably these are buried when it is entered into a quilt show).
4. The rules that say “contain some quilting....”. As you said, this does not tell you how much quilting you should do. You should quilt the quilt with as much or as little quilting as You want.
5. I am a quilt Judge. Hope this helps.