Have I painted myself into a corner here?
 

I'm making a baby quilt but as I went I decided to make it bigger, so I added two borders to the front, and it looks great. But I may have gone wrong when I decided to stick with the backing fabric I'd bought and add the same borders. The center of the top is patchwork and I figure I'll quilt that with SITD and maybe some straight lines. But how can I quilt the borders without making the back look weird? I guess I'll have to try to line them up - they should be pretty much the same size - and come up with something really simple that will work if the edges are slightly off? I hope I'm describing this so you all can picture my dilemma - I'd love any tips and suggestions from you wise people.

If you are machine quilting, use bobbin thread that matches the back fabric.

It's quite a challenge to match. Would help to use a stipple in the area.

I'm not nearly accomplished enough for that! I think I'll have to try to match the borders up and hope for the best. These are the stupid beginner mistakes that I hope I'll learn from!

You can do it, Sarah. Measure carefully to get the borders the same on front and back. When you layer it - pin right through the border seams to keep it aligned. Then hand baste just a smidge away from the seam line so it won't shift while you are quilting. I did this recently and was very happy with the results.

Thank you for your confidence in me! I'm a rank beginner so I'm sure it will be a little wonky, but I have some ideas that might work. I'll post pictures when it's done.

If you haven't sewn the borders on the backing yet, consider a different piecing arrangement for the backing to save you the agony of lining things up.

Dayle

I almost always do a large stipple or FMQ and that works for me.

I think what I'm going to do is quilt straight lines across the whole thing, including borders, so the lining up won't be so crucial. We shall see!

Jingle, what is FMQ?