Backing for a quilt question
 

I have never had to piece the backing of a large quilt before and had this problem , i had to buy 2 long large pieces of material to get my width and length for a large quilt, both pieces were cut off the same bolt i washed the material cut to the size i needed to equal the length and width , my question is , do i need to square up both pieces before i sew them together down the middle to get my width? i will lose a large amount of width because the grain is off so bad, or do i just sew them both together with out squaring them up and hope i it will not have the "wonky" in the backing ? i hope someone can understand my question and has the answer for me . Thank you

Did you leave excess backing fabric all the way around the size of the quilt top? Backing needs to be larger than the top. I would have squared up as I cut each piece the size I needed to have it.so I would have 2 straight pieces to join. Do you have enough excess to do it now? If not you will need to square up the quilt when it is done so it hangs/drapes straight.

Are you going to be quilting this or are you sending this out to a LAQ. I use to rip the selvage edge off because it is thicker but if the selvages appear to be straight (they usually are) I would just stitch down the center. I wouldn't ever precut any backing before washing.

yes , when i bought the fabric i had a good oversize on both the width and the length , ( at least 6 inches but after i washed it, i lost a lot of my width , and now the fabric is so off of being straight i would have to cut 3 -4 inches off if i squared it up . yes i am going to do quilting on this some straight lines and swirls and i will lose some inches doing that also . the reason it was cut before i washed was because when i bought the fabric after i got it home i had a "I don't know what i was thinking moment" and realized i had only cover the length on the first purchase and not the width so i went back and purchased the same amount of fabric so i could piece it down the middle to get my width , I agree with you Ckcowl i should of done it that way so i think my only bet to salvage this would to try ManiacQuilter2 s idea and hope it works , Thank you for your help

I probably shouldn't admit the following.... I do my own long arming and I never prewash or square up the backs. By not washing, I am insured that the shrinkage will happen after it is quilted and I like the "vintage" crinkly look. Once in a while I get a surprise bleeder, but plenty of color catchers helps with that. I do cut off all the selvedges. I have seen them shrink a lot more than the rest of the fabric and I don't want the quilt drawn up at that joining seam.