Quilt Backing Question
 

Hi. I am making a memory quilt and have finished the top with various sized blocks in the block pattern. My question is: Can I make the quilt backing the same size as the front if I am going to hand quilt? I want the back to be identical with the front in the various size blocks. With machine fmq I've done, I've always had the backing at least 4" bigger than the top. I just can't remember what I've done on quilts I've quilted by hand. I'm thinking the 'shrinkage' wouldn't be as it is when machine quilting. I plan on doing a diagonal cross stitch quilting. Thank you!

ummm, if you are very careful, you could but would need to baste everything carefully I would think to maintain it straight and square. To be honest, I would not attempt it but I don't have much patience.

I hand quilt and my material does shift sometimes. I would give yourself a few inches just to be on the safe side

I always leave at least 2” all around when hand quilting. If you chose to “envelope” the quilt you wouldn’t need the extra fabric, but I imagine it would be next to impossible to get the squares to line up, front to back.

Probably the only way you could truly get the blocks to match up would be to do a quilt as you go with each block as a separate entity, then sew them all together. I tried hand quilting one time. 3 weeks later I was still trying to get a 24x36 section done. It proved to me that I had to find another way. You've got some good advice here. Good luck, whichever way you choose to do it.

A little is always insurance, if you have enough fabric to do it. Good luck.

I am not a hand quilter, but one thing comes to mind--even if you manage to get every block aligned the way you want, doing a crosshatch will mean crossing spots where there are seams on both sides plus batting. Would that not be very thick to hand quilt through?

Am I understanding correctly that you are having blocks on the back, and aren't sure how to extend their size with backing in order to have the backing larger than the front?

I would definitely not want to do without some extra fabric on the back, even when hand quilting..

I have machine quilted reversible quilts but not done any by hand. Youtube might be a good place to look. Good basting would be your best option but look up more info first. Then dive in!

I don't hand quilt, so here's an uneducated opinion. Make the back blocks as you want them. Then sew 2 or 3 inch strips on the perimeter of the backing. Then baste the backing, batting and the top together as desired, and hand quilt. ;I think you'll be doing a lot of checking the alignment, though.

Have fun!