Piecing a back with Stripes
 

Hi,

I have a huge abundance of 1/4" stripe fabric with itty bitty flowers in the stripes. Like.....almost 14 yards of it.

I made a scrappy 9 patch quilt with candy charms, and was wondering if anyone used stripes on the back with good or at least decent results?

I figure with it being 97" square, I'll have to improvise even with sewing two long pieces together. So either 3 long strips of material, or something on the ends.....

My questions are:
* Will I ever be able to keep the stripes going vertical?
* Am I going to be sorry I even attempted?

Just for more info: I'll be using a long arm machine....if that helps any.

Petrified to mess this up.

My lady who quilts my quilts used a strip on the back one on each end and a black piece of fabric in the middle I love it n use it n my bed I ad originally made it for my dad for his birthday but when he passed it was given back to me

Why not do a giant nine square and switch directions on the stripes?

Run the stripes diagonally?

Of course stripes will work! Be creative! You can break up the stripes by adding a coordinating solid color between the pieces when sewing them together. Keep in mind that you have control over your quilt. Your design and your creation, There are no rights or wrongs.

This was my thought as well. If you join the stripes to a solid rather than to another piece of the stripes, you don't need to match anything, and the solid adds a design element.

The only issue I have with pieced backings when using a Long Arm is that you really want to mount the quilt so the seams run the same direction as the bars. So if I wanted the stripes to be "vertical" and the seam was also the same direction as the stripes, I'd measure to see if I could mount the quilt sideways instead of lengthwise. This could be a problem if you are going to use a panto or computer design, but if you are doing MFQ then it probably won't matter.

When I quilted my Gypsy Wife, I deliberately mounted it sideways so I could easily quilt motifs to enhance the striped nature of the piecing.

These are all really good ideas. I think I'm going to try some, and hope like the Dickin's I can load it straight!!