Need help...
 

I just completed a 90 x 107 quilt top (have back ¾ done). But realized I made both same size! Can I add a wide scrap border with loose stitches to the backing & have the top & batting same size? After it's machine quilted I could take off the wide scrap border & bind it… huh?
This is my 1st big quilt. I have made twins before but did my own quilting..
Thanks for any suggestions…..

If you add anything to the backing (other than original matching fabric), be sure that it will be ok to stay, as quilting will sometimes pull the fabric in, resulting in the added borders being quilted too.....depending on how your backing is pieced, I would maybe split it down the middle and add a strip there plus one on one end....making sure that enough of the added bottom border was placed over the quilt top so that it looked like it was supposed to be that way (you don't want just one inch of a different fabric to show)....clear as mud, right?

Yes I will have it LA & the top border is wide enough that I could trim if needed. But will ask if a scrap border can be added on backing just so it could be quilted to very edge of backing, then I would trim all 3 & bind…

thanks….

When I started quilting It happened to me that my backing was about the same size as my top and when I took it to the L A lady she sewed a pc of muslin all around so she can loan it on the frame then had it all cut after quilting so it is doable depending on the LA person if willing to quilt it like that.
Good luck

I would not add fabric to the ends of the back. I would cut the back in half and add a strip of fabric to the middle of your back, the amount needed to make it as big as you want it. That way the sides will not have a seam to deal with when you bind it. Hope that makes sense.

she has it 3/4 done already. Call your long arm quilter and ask what to do.

Do you mean you have 3/4 of the back pieced together and don't want to go back to the middle?

I echo the others who said to put more fabric in the middle, not at the ends. It will be very difficult, perhaps impossible, for the longarmer to perfectly match the edges of the top and bottom, so some of that piecing will show, and having just a little showing at top and bottom (and I assume the sides too) will not look good.

This is the best solution. Once quilted the backing will have been "pulled in" and whatewver you put on the edges will be required to stay with the quilt. So adding in the middle with regular stitching to stay put is the best idea.

I would suggest doing this as well. If you need both length and width added to your backing, cut the backing in half the other way and add another strip of scrap that way as well. Looks more planned as well!

I agree and have done this method on several quilts when the width of the material I had for the backing was not wide enough. And I have made three sections for the backing and I put 10 inch piece in the middle of the quilt backing using either the same as the back and on one, another color with a design in it that coordinated with some of the colors on the front. And then the two side pieces were the same sizes. Hope this helps....

I would not recommend this. Having seams going two directions is more difficult on the longarm quilter to make it quilt evenly. Most quilts are loaded with the backing seam parallel to the bars. A seam in the other direction will not stretch as much as the unseamed edges, resulting in puckers on the back. Ideally, a backing should have no more than one seam. Really ideally, backings should be wide fabrics with no seams. You might look at Christian Lane Quilters for their 'fatbacks'. They often have sales and sometimes their clearance end of bolts are plenty.