Frankenbacks!
 

Dunster is spot on, as usual! I have started using orphans and leftover yardage or just plain uglies in the backs of my quilts and I am loving the result. I took the Bonnie Hunter/Mickey Depre "Collaboration Celebration" class and Mickey showed off her "Frankenbacked" quilts! Bonnie had a couple too. If it's good enough for the professionals, it's certainly going to work for me. Saves money and time as well.

The prettiest back I ever saw was made of 10" blocks in shirting colors. It blended beautifully, complimented the quilt and showed off the quilting nicely. The quilter said that she was just using up leftover big scraps!

The vast majority of quilts I make are queen or king sized, and I almost always piece my backs -- in essence I make double sided quilts. Family members (only ones lucky enough to get more than one quilt from me) always flip the quilt over to "see what's on the back!" I have used a few wide backings when the top had a zillion seams just to cut down on the weight. I will add that all my quilting is done by check (longarm lady) and she is always interested to see what's on the back, too.

I see nobody here has said the dreaded backing word "sheets". I use good quality cotton sheets all the time and can't see any reason not to. I only machine quilt and prefer the patterned ones as they do hide imperfections in your quilting. I can find single sheets here often $10 or less as we have a small unique store that handles returns, rejects, overruns of sheets and bedding of all sorts from Sears, The Bay and Bed and Beyond. Last week I bought King Size cotton sheets at $6.99 and flannel ones at $4.99. My friend has done a couple of my quilts on her long arm and had no issues with my cotton sheets either. At those prices, I doubt if I will ever piece LQS 42" yardage at $14.99 a yard and up for a back.

I use whatever fits the quilt I am making best, sometimes its extra wide, sometimes its scappy sometimes its normal width joined once or twice depending on width of quilt. I don't have any strict rules, I just look at my finsihed quilt and then decide. The only time I bought the backing at the same time I bought material I ended up not using it as I didn't think it went well with my design on the front, just go with the flow and what suits you best at the time.

Here's a couple of my backs.

They have name brands that I trust. I have ordered from them many times and have been happy with prices and service.

I have pieced backs, used 108" wide, used bed sheets. Haven't had any problems with whatever I have used.

I have had good experiences , and a few not so good experiences with wide backing from fabric.com. Stick with a manufacture name you can trust. One was so thin and loosely woven I would not use it in any project.

I like the solid white or unbleached 106" when I can afford it or have it on hand. It is a time saver and I find I have less waste. I have pieced the backs of many quilts using the 44 " and they are just fine. As far a color I tend to use a lot of cream or white in my piles of scrappy quilts so the cream/white back is just fine. With some nice quilting, SID. echo or meandering quilting, the back becomes a pleasant white-on-white quilt. :) In the end, do what feel right with that particular quilt.

i tend to use the wide flannel backs because they are *so* cozy.

i pieced a back out of leftover bits from years of pyjama fabrics, and i like the look of most pieced backs when i see them.

mostly i use new cloth because by the time i get to the back, i just want to get it together and get on to the next stage!

aileen