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?

You could split the backing fabric and add the border fabrics as strips - if you place them way off center, then it will look like a design element and you would not need to worry about matching anything -

I'd not worry about the back. Perhaps do a wide zigzag on the front borders which would look good on the back too.

FMQ = Free Motion Quilting (done with a sewing machine).

Oh! good idea!!

Why not try the serpentine stitching? All you have to do is choose a serpentine stitch or decorative stitch from your machine and sew a grid pattern on your quilt. It doesn't have to be stitch in the ditch - just sew evenly across and up and down your quilt. Nice looks can be achieved.

My thoughts exactly, I am thinking you can use the border colors you want for the back down the center of the back and make it a strip backing, this means you will need to cut the backing piece down the center back, but this will work. This way you do not have to match the two border sections, and will still have the color on the back. If you don't want a center seam in the back, put the border section midway between the edge and the center on both sides in the back. There are so many ways you can do things, don't give up, just change up. lol. Anxious to see your finished quilt. Have fun!!

To help me achieve straight lines, either in a square grid or diagonally in a diamond pattern, I have had great luck using painters tape. It doesn't leave a residue and is reusable from line to line. I just stitch close to the tape (or use your presser foot edge) on each side and replace for the next two stitching lines. Hope this helps achieve that perfect look with just a simple pattern. You can use the serpentine stitch rather than the straight stitch and make it decorative too. Here's one I did recently.[ATTACH=CONFIG]355870[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]355871[/ATTACH] I pieced the back too, to add extra width and length. It didn't come out perfectly, but I was pleased.

Love this!!!! Very Smart!!

I really like bearisgray's idea of off-setting the borders on the back. The way I do FMQ "free-motion quiltling" is just running around with my needle drawing loops, going clockwise and counterclockwise. Sometimes I make little loops inside big ones.
And I found a site, I forgot where already, just a few days ago that gave a glossary of these acronyms. There were two pages of them! I wish they weren't used so much; they are very confusing until you really get to know them. There are a few that we use all the time, like WOF, RST. These even beginning sewers need to know, but how are they going to learn them?

Free Motion Quilting