I'm afraid I don't have enough backing!
 

I am making my first quilt to showcase my grandaughter's art and have finished the quilt top. I haven't basted it yet, but when I lay it on top of the backing, there is only one inch to spare on the top and bottom of the quilt. I was planning on spray basting, but I'm afraid that by the time I get to the bottom of the quilt, all the smoothing I will do to get wrinkles out will cause the quilt top to extend beyond the backing. Then I'm afraid I would be in a real fix because they are now stuck together!

What are the chances I have enough? Should I start planning a pieced quilt back to allow for more room?

I'm trying to attach a picture. Hope it works.

Thanks for your help!
Janan

Piece the back! My girlfriend calls my backs a surprise for the recipient. I piece all of mine. So, my quilts have a design on both sides.

I normally piece any leftover fabrics in my backing like Sue Bouchard does at QIAD

Ok, I will piece the back. Thanks for your input.

I usually end up piecing a strip through the middle on twin sized quilts since I am piecing two pieces together anyway. (my selvedges run horizontal so I buy 2 times the width needed and get the length of 40+pieced+40)

However, I just bought 108" fabric for a 102" square quilt and it shrunk after cold water wash and low heat dry. So I had to piece a strip. I wasn't willing to try to cut a seam straight through the middle of 108 (or less now) so I ended up putting it across the top. Why? Well if I ever try to turn the top down, that would be the natural place to have something different. We'll see if it actually looks good after I get it quilted.

Great idea, lovspaper! Let me know how it turns out.

The polka dot backing fabric is Soft & Comfy by JoAnn's Fabric. 100% polyester. I guess it's like minkie fabric. Should I wash it before I make my quilt sandwich?[ATTACH=CONFIG]509367[/ATTACH]

Put a 3" strip at the top of the quilt and a 4 - 5" strip at the bottom of the backing. Start the quilting where the added strip meets the top of the backing. If you need more on the sides, add strips there.

I've done this several times and it works well.

Washing - I wash all fabrics before I use them - allergies. If you haven't washed your quilt fabrics, then it's ok to wait until the quilt is quilted and then wash the quilt. However, there is no requirement to pre-wash - but for a baby quilt, I'd recommend it.

Piece the back I recently have been dealing with this issues as well with my lap quilt, I know that I am going to have to take it apart and figure out how to piece the back for it to fit the quilt.

When I made the baseball quilt for my daughter, I did all the MLB teams on the front and the back piece was supposed to be a solid piece of Padres fabric - well, it wasn't wide enough. So the fabric I used for sashing on the front became a racing stripe down the back. (I don't have it here so can't post a picture.) It turned out looking like I planned it. At first I was just going to add borders around but if it was off just a smidge I was afraid it would be too obvious - it was easier to center the stripe.

Just play with it and see what comes up. Believe us - it will look like you planned it. No one will ever know until you tell them.

This would be my advice as well...good luck

That is such a neat ideal, I have to remember that next time I think I will run short. Thanks

If you go with piecing, make the piece your label. It will look stylish and cute to see it go across the entire length of the quilt.

Mickey Depre calls these pieced backs Frankenbacks! She and Bonnie Hunter taught a class I took and in their show and share this came up. Loved the name, love the look, and love using my stash and left over pieces this way!

Craftsy has a free class called Creative Quilt backs that has several ideas for piecing the back.
http://www.craftsy.com/class/creativ...eho-dum&_ctp=3

I did something similar on my mom's lap quilt. Here is a picture to give you an idea. I positioned the label as the center "bow"
[ATTACH=CONFIG]509546[/ATTACH]

As long as there is enough fabric to actually cover the back you can add strips to each side so the quilter has fabric to work with and then just cut it off after it is quilted.

Just double checking, is the front of your quilt cotton and the back will be poly?

I piece my backs all the time, never a problem!

I would not trust myself with only an inch of backing for wiggle room. I'm just not that good. I would piece from the middle, as it never fails you will be trying to put the binding on the seam if you piece too close to the edges. Lesson learned the hard way!

Thank you for posting I saved for future reference. :). As sometimes just not enought of the chosen backing fabric.

Judy in Phx, AZ