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Skip the glass if you decide to frame it. Glass can cause condensation underneath and that can rot the quilt over time. It's best left 'open-faced' so the air can get to it. If you do go with glass, make sure there is a gap between the glass and the quilt.

Do any of those things you suggest and no one will be the wiser.Before you go to the trouble, however, it would be good if you could look at the back of some of the world renown tapestries. It is a real eye-opener to see what a knotty mess they are at the back.

it is a work of love....i would give it to someone who would appreciate it, as a first try, then practice practice practice, and try again next year.........

Why not just hang it with a sleeve. No one will see the back.

if it is a wall hanging size - put a felt backing on it and pink the edges

Hang it up. Love it. Enjoy it. If anybody pulls it out to look at the back you can tell them to mind their own damn business and if they do it again, you'll break their fingers! (grin) It's your quilt, be free to love it as it is. Our friends love us as we are. . . warts and all. . . and if they don't they aren't true friends.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nativetexan

i'd put a back over it and go on as usual.

This is what I'd do too- What they can't see they can't judge

I think art quilts need to have a backing put on them after you have finished with the thread work, embellishing etc..as you are doing quite a bit of this after the quilting is finished.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tartan

Some people that do alot of thread painting on quilts, put the top on the batt and stitch all the details. They put the back on later and just outline stitch the main designs. You don't even have to be careful of how far the quilting on the back is because the batting is anchored well with the thread painting. I think you could put a false back on your quilt, outline quilt the main parts to the front and put the binding on.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. I have every intention of doing an art quilt soon but have not yet done one. I've read several books though and their method of dealing with the messy back is to layer the top and batting, do all the necessary quilting and fabric anchoring there and then add the backing fabric. Do some basic outline quilting (often with monofilament in the top thread) and then bind.

As far as shows requiring the quilting to be the same on the top as the back, that makes no sense and seems downright anal to me. For an art quilt with loads of thread painting, it makes perfect sense to wait on the backing fabric until the end. Even if you're a perfect FMQ'ing artist, the back will look messy.

don't know what the "horrible" back looks like, but is there a way you can embelish it so you have a two sided piece? maybe your thread snarls can turn into flowers with button middles or something. look at it like you looked at clouds when you were a kid. you might even find yourself adding threads to complete a shape. sometimes the crazy side is worth saving.