I used the birthing method on one quilt and found it to be harder than just sandwiching it. I'll stick to that method.

That sounds like it's exactly what I was trying to do. And yes, I would appreciate a picture very much! Maybe I didn't use enough pins and that's why everything shifted.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. Sometimes when you sew in the same direction things get all whacky. I even do this when sewing strip sets together, so there is no wave.

Hope this helps. Hopefully I can get these sewn this weekend and post more pictures for you...and get them FINISHED for me!

Hi there,

thanks a lot for the pictures! Looks like you're doing this with a fairly decent sized quilt. Mine was only 30 by 40 or so. I did indeed not pin enough, and also, I think I didn't iron everything as flat as I should have. Though I should know better by now, every now and then I still try to take shortcuts and think a certain step isn't really necessary, but every time I get punished by having to redo something. Maybe this'll teach me ...

I gave up on birthing quilts the old fashioned way. I opted for the give me the drugs. :lol: :lol:

I know you have seen the pillow shams that open down the middle in the back. Imagine the pillow sham being the size of your quilt. I make my backing like that with one side overlapping 1/2" and machine stitch it closed to incorporate the seam into the quilting design which is usually straight line quilting on quilts I make like this. It works great for small size quilts or utility quilts. It's easy to smooth the quilt so there is no puckers and excess fabric with an opening down the back.

Now that's something I wouldn't have thought of! I'll give that a try soon. I think it may even work with FMQ, you could start at top, work towards the middle, stop a couple of inches before the overlap, start from the bottom and work towards the overlap, and do the overlap area last. I personally am not good at quilting in the ditch, think FMQ is a lot more forgiving. Thanks!

You're welcome - and they were Quilt for Kids quilts...so about 35 x 45.

I have had that happen many times. Usually I have either stretched the backing fabric too much (I usually use fleece) or I didn't stretch it enough. I don't think it's a problem to lay it out, stitch around, and then trim after, but I do think you need to pin the heck out of it and maybe tape down the bottom layer to make sure there's no shifting.

In my worst case, on a lap quilt there was a huge ripple down the back of the backing. I was almost in tears. Finally I took a deep breath and cut the ripple, trimmed off the extra, and sewed a strip of fabric all the way down the quilt, covering the cut. It actually turned out okay, as it added color to the back and looked intentional. But it is not a happy memory : )

Laurie

I never had this happen when pillowcasing a quilt. First make sure your measurements are even across the top, middle and bottom in both directions. Cut your batting and backing material to match the size of the top. I do baste around the edge of the top and backing before I piece them together and always use a walking foot.