Piecing a Back
 

Is there a "best" way to piece a back for a quilt? I am trying to prepare a back for a King sized quilt and nothing that I have is wide enough. Should I seam yardage lengthwise or widthwise, slice the piece I have lengthwise and insert a fabric strip down the middle, add borders all the way around, quarter my fabric and add length and width or something else that I haven't thought of? My quilt top is 100" x 108" and needs to get finished. I'd love to hear all about backs.

If you're sending this out to a longarmer, I'd contact them and ask what they would prefer you to do.

For seamed backs it is much better to have the seams lay the same direction as the rollers. If the seams are perpendicular to the rollers, as the quilt gets rolled those seams pile up and make an uneven spot - some of the quilt will be tight at the seam, loose between the seams.

Be sure to remove the selvedges from the backing.

What I'd do myself is to have three strips across the width of the quilt - that's because my 10' frame won't load a 108" quilt plus the 4" each side needed to load on the frame. If your longarmer has a wider frame, three strips lengthwise would work.

If you're hand quilting or quilting this on your domestic machine, you can be as creative as you'd like!

I would be cautious of borders as it can be tough to ensure they get matched perfectly to the top as it is loaded.

Hope this helps, Good luck!

your second idea, split down middle and add a strip, was the recomended method when i learned to quilt in the 80's. the thought was, that the back was stronger by having seams to side and solid strip in center. but since then, methods and thoughts have changed. no rules ...i am in love w pieced backs. backs made w leftover blocks, backs made scrappy style with big chunks of fabric left over from piecing the quilt. do what is fun ... it all works and looks great!

It really depends on whether this will be quilted on a frame or not.

If quilted on a frame, the traditional method of splitting fabric so you have a large piece in the center and a piece on each side of the center is not good. This is because the seams starts to "pile up" as the quilt is rolled, creating bumps where the extra fabric of the seams are. In this case, it is better to have the seams running from side-to-side rather than the traditional up-down.

If quilted on a domestic sewing machine (or a sit-down longarm), which direction the seams run doesn't matter as the quilt is not rolled onto a roller as you quilt. Whatever looks good works!

Like the others have said, I always try to load the back so that any seams run along the rollers. However, I've also loaded heavily pieced backs on the longarm with no problems, and could probably make do with any configuration if necessary.

I would use John Flynn's diagonal pieced method and start with one of the extra wide back pieces Here is a link to acalculator that will help you figure out how much fabric you will need: <O:p></O:p>
http://www.multi-patch.com/html/diagonal_backing_calculator.php. <O:p></O:p>
<O:p> </O:p>
Here is a link to an explanation of theconcept:<O:p></O:p>
http://www.needleandforge.com/infobox/tutorial-diagonally-pieced-backing/<O:p></O:p>
<O:p> </O:p>
This is a link to a .pdf from John Flynn,but the explanation is not as clear:<O:p></O:p>
http://flynnquilt.com/media/uploads/2009/04/08/files/diagonalpb1103.pdf<O:p></O:p>
<O:p> </O:p>
I have used this method on many, many quilts. I love it because I can roll the quilt on thequit frame and you don’t get bumps where the seam is. Additionally, depending on the fabric, theseam can disappear.<O:p></O:p>

The previous advice is good especially if you are quilting it on a long arm. That being said, you might look at the back as another creative opportunity. I often try to incorporate some extra blocks from the front onto the back as well as using some coordinating fabrics in large pieces in the back design. If you google "quilt backs" you will see lots of images for ideas. With just a little extra piecing in the back you will create a reversible quilt! I would avoid trying to be too symmetrical or trying to add border type strips as I have found it difficult to get an exact placement of the back when you sandwich it, so I don't try to piece anything in the back too close to the edges.

I have a question. I hand baste using Sharon Schamber's method. When I piece the back pieces together, whether it is 2 or 3 pieces, it never seems to lie flat when I press it. Why is that? What can I do to make it better? Also, when you lay the front to the back, I always seem to have problems lining it up so the seam will be the same amount in from the edges and look ok when I put on the binding. Any suggestions? Thanks for your input.

I saw a quilt in a show once that had a fairly large piece in the middle, and then using fabrics from the front, just kept building on the four sides until it was big enough. It was terrific!

all of my quilts are double sided, the one I just got back is 2 of Bonnie Hunters mysteries, the other is the one I made with the 50 fab stars paper piecing book with a heavily pieced reverse...my long armer doesn't have any trouble quilting them, but we both understand that if a needle hits a joint with a lot of layers in it the stitch will not be the same size as those surrounding it.
My dear jane was double sided and I hand quilted it.
Quit worrying and start creating.
Double sided quilts half the cost of sending a quilt out to be long armed
Halves the storage space required.
And they are Always beautiful on the bed...

rules are for fraidy cats :)

It isn't squared.

When I've quilted my own, I find center on all four sides and tie on a long heavy piece of DMC crochet thread (you can use anything of course, string, yarn etc) I do this for both sides.

I lay out the reverse, taping so it is taut but never stretched.

I lay out the batt, smoothing etc and pull out those threads so they are clearly visible and coming straight out from the edge.
I fold the top in half, and align the top and bottom strings from both sides, then fold out the top and align the center sides. It doesn't take any extra time.

For the ones I send out I tell the quilters to do the best they can. And be satisifed with the results. I always chose the reverse side from a smaller flimsy and add a wide border so there is plenty of float. I don't expect them to be perfectly aligned. Life is hard and then we die ;) there are a lot more things to worry about, particularly since I've had cancer twice in the last three years.

I would do two seams going the width.

I love to make extra blocks and run them between the seams of the backing fabrics. Making a stripe of pattern between seams. It makes it look intentional.

I'm a longarmer and I think it is correct that most longarmers like the seam parallel to the rails. However, I've have had them come in all different ways and I don't seem to have too big of a problem. I like to piece my own backs the most economical way without consideration of which way the seams are.

I do pieced backs all sorts of ways. I do my own quilting on my DSM so I have no concerns about longarmer needs.

Sometimes I don't even need to piece a back but feel like doing something creative. I like to take a wide back and slash it apart in a random direction, piece in a strip of contrasting fabric, then slice into it in another direction and piece in a different fabric. Mostly random, except trying to avoid creating lots of seams coming together in the same spot. Then if I'm feeling especially creative I'll patch in those same contrasting fabrics into the binding, and line them all up so that the strips of fabric seem to wrap all the way around the binding. Kind of a pain because I end up doing the binding in pieces to make it all line up, but I like the result. :)

The string idea is brilliant! I'm also thinking that if you are taping the backing down, which is what I do, a piece of tape, placed on the floor or surface you've taped the back to, perpendicular to the quilt edge at the reference points would work as well. Thanks!

Maureen,

Regarding flatness after seaming, are you cutting off the selvedges before sewing the seam? Selvedges will prevent a seam from lying flat.

If you are already cutting off selvedges, my best guess is that you are stretching the edges of the fabric as you sew. This is particularly noticeable on long seams because the slight stretching every few inches starts adding up. Some precautions you can take are (1) heavily starch the yardage before sewing together for backing; starch stabilizes fabric so it is less likely to stretch with handling, (2) use a .5" seam so you are not sewing as close to the cut edges; the cut edges are the least stable area of the fabric, (3) use a walking foot; a common problem without a walking foot is that the feed dogs tend to feed the bottom fabric faster than the top fabric, (4) pin the entire seam before starting to sew and hold the fabric up above the presser foot as you feed it to the machine; this will tend to equalize feeding of the top and bottom fabrics.

For the basting step, are you marking the centers of your top, bottom, and backing before you start? I would also measure the backing from the center mark out to the side seams, then measure the same distance from the center top of the batting and quilt top. Match these points and thread baste them together before loading onto the boards.

For additional safety, you might want to mark the batting all the way from top to bottom with a line that simulates where the backing seams should fall. A long metal T-square from the hardware store and a Sharpie permanent pen would help with this. You want to use permanent marker so the markings won't move into the fabric later. If you are nervous about using a permanent pen, try a blue quilt marking pen. Before layering, you could also mark the backing seam lines on the quilt top using blue painter's tape. Measure and mark from the center. As you baste onto the boards, with each roll you can adjust so that all the lines -- backing seam lines, batting marker lines, and blue painter's tape -- match up and the layers are lying flat.

Here are some graphics I made of some ways to piece backings.

Jan in VA

JAN---great pictures.

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions and Jan the diagrams really help. I finally got brave last night, slashed my piece in both directions and inserted matching printed fabric which increased the size and looks fine. It looks like a combination of Jan's diagram five and six. Now with all of your ideas, I have lots of options for the next one as I see more King sized quilts in my future.

when doing king size quilts, i buy the 108 inch muslin, it comes in white or off white. then i can do the back in one piece.

I really like this idea. I've not done double sided quilts, but do get quite carried away making my backs. I did do a pieced back that I just kept adding too. Also, I bought a piece of wide back for two quilts and when I split it it wasn't big enough for the one - measurements! So I took two fabrics that were the same color combo, different type pattern and attached in the middle and it looked great.

This is what I do to but I found LindaM comments very interesting.

Like several has said, make it a design element. Not that I am an expert but here are a couple of mine.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]486630[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]486631[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]486632[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]486633[/ATTACH]

I used to use the traditional added strip. These days I enjoy creating the back as much as I do the front. I almost always piece the back off center and I might use blocks, scraps left over from the front, contrasting fabric or whatever strikes my fancy at the time. I love the backs of my quilts and really enjoy creating the one of a kind backs that act like secret messages to my family and friends.

The few quilts I have done if I don't have enough backing I will improvise with left-overs from the front. I'm still a beginner but I have always somehow accidently came up with a nice backing, guess it's one of those beginners luck things.

Good to know! Thanks! My Avante is coming next week. I've been quilting on a Sweet Sixteen and love it, but sometimes just want a panto on my quilts, hence the additional machine. I'll be more careful in selecting backings.

Jan, thanks for the great graphic. I've saved it to my Pinterest page so I'll be able to find it again when I need it.

This is what works for me, take 2 lengths of fabric {measure center of quilt top to bottom plus 6 inches} sew them into a tube. Press both seams open, match seams press in center line, cut on line. This will give you evenly spaced sides and a center panel. Hope this makes sense, it is a great method.

I just use two quilt tops