Need help
 

I have the top finished. This quilt is made from upholstery fabric, as my son lives in Ohio and it gets cold. My problem is I really don't know how to finish it. Was hoping I could get some ideas from you. The quilt was pieced with my surger. NOW I'm not sure how to quilt and bind. Do I do an envelope or attach binding? How should it be quilted. Being upholstery fabric I am concerned about raveling. I thought perhaps of stitching (with a decorative stitch) down each seam. If I do this, would I do if before attaching the backing or after? Really need some ideas and hope you will help. I have attached (hopefully) the full quilt and then a close-up. Thanks for looking. :)

wow, nice! and I bet heavy. what were you thinking of using for backing? a nice double sided flannel might be a good choice- and a light weight batting (the batting will help cushion the seams) you can buy wide flannels from a few places on line- I get mine from 'fabric.com' most often. I would quilt it then bind it- doing the turning method you would have a pretty stiff edge from the top fabrics. I've used upholstery fabric for backing before and it made really nice quilts- only down side is they have to be dry cleaned instead of laundered- but if you vacuum it once in a while to keep the dust/hair, ect down the dry cleaning should only be necessary once or twice a year.

Really nice, if you serge the edges like you did the seams raveling shouldn't be a problem. Once you bind or turn it, it won't show. I did a jean one like that once or twice, the binding covered the serge stitch.

I was not going to use batting, but you make a good point. I had thought of flannel, but then I found in my stash a pretty beige cotton that has a nice feel to it. If I used it and put a thin batting that should help with the seams not coming through. I guess I could bind it with the fabric I was going to use for the backing. Thanks for you suggestions.

I agree with ckcowl. I think a light batting to diffuse the seams would help. And a nice flannel backing. Since you've serged the piecing, I don't think you need to worry about raveling. Might want to serge around the outside edge just for kicks as long as it doesn't affect your pattern/block size. Otherwise maybe just a stay-stich seam around the outside edge if you're going to do a binding. I, too, think a binding would be far easier than a 'birthing' or 'pillowcase' method.

I had not thought of surging on the binding. Thanks, that would solve that problem.

I like the idea of flannel, but am worried it might make it "too" warm. My son lives outside of Dayton and I guess I need to find out just how cold it gets. Being from Texas, it's hard to judge.

Hi Jody! I'm from Ohio and our winters do get cold, usually in the 30's but down into single digits a lot. I think you'll be fine using a light weight batting with your cotton as backing.

Lie down on the bed and cover yourself with the top and then decide what kind of batting and back you need. The fabric you have used will be heavy and hot. Houses and apartments have central heat and we don't normally use heavy quilts to keep warm unless we live out in the woods without heat. It is my opinion that it might be used more as a bed spread rather than a quilt. I would think about tieing it rather than quilt it. I imagine it will be difficult to machine quilt. If I tied it I would tie to the back into the cross seams. Then the top would be smooth and ties showing on the back.

Thank you, I would rather use cotton than flannel. This quilt is a throw and I know it will get a lot of use and I feel the cotton would wear better than the flannel. Thanks.