rvsfan

Mywebquilter.com is the best free online quilt calculator I have ever found . Backing , borders , sashings , binding , and many other calculations such as square in a square , on point settings, quilt blocks library ; it's a world of information .

klswift

I rarely use a 'regular' backing. I add bits and blocks or strips, just something different. Depending on the fabric you have, with your pieces the simplest way would be to cut the 2 yard piece down the middle, take the one yard piece, cut it and resew it to make a long piece and add it to the middle of the backing. Another option (but more sewing) would be to cut the 2 yard piece into 3rds and insert a resewn long bit on each side creating 5 long bits. a very wise designer told me to not try to make too little look like a single piece. It will always look like you ran short. She told me to play up the lack of fabric to create a whole new look. This has worked for me for many, many years.

Iceblossom

Glad you got it figured out, Suern3.

I took college level trig when I was a senior in high school. In college I did class after class of statistics, doing it by hand even though computers had been invented by then! I worked with engineers, I did payroll, I did all sorts of math in my head.

Then when I was about 40 I started losing my math abilities. Don't know if it is aging, my medications, or what but stuff that used to be super easy and done in my head I can barely do on paper any more. I'm still pretty darn good with a calculator. But at 60, I am definitely getting more and more math challenged and I'm doing more and more by charging ahead and seeing what comes out.

While I prefer extra wide fabric for backs, I can't always afford it. For whatever reasons I am fundamentally unable to make a quilt be less than a width of fabric, just can't do it... even if I can, then the back I want to use is only 40 usable inches or whatever and not the full 44" I need.

As time has gone on, I do more and more piecing of my backs rather than less because I like it and it allows me to use fabrics I collected for the top but didn't use there, or a good place for large scale prints. For the same reason I typically use a slightly wider than standard binding and sometimes even piece the binding, it's one last place I can add fabrics!

suern3

I can picture this! (cutting the 2 yards in half and adding the other piece to the middle). I did finish the quilt sandwich today though, so will have to be happy with the backing I used. Thanks for your input.

suern3

Iceblossom, you surely have a lot of math experience! I like to joke that my two older brothers used up all the math genes in our family and left none for me They both worked in math heavy careers. I, of course, needed to use math in my nursing career and I was able to do that just fine. I think I was so concerned about it that I kind of over-compensated. But since I retired I seem to have happily let my math go.

Quilt30

There is s method developed by John Flynn where you take backing fabric that is not wide enough and cut it diagionally and slide one side down until you have the width needed. It works. It is on his web site.