how much yardage do you use for making a quilt back for a lap quilt? a baby quilt? a twin? a double? today's queen 90 - 98 square, and a king - 110" x 110"?
in both regular and 108" width. or 120", which i think is too pricey.

I buy backing fabric when it's on clearance. I buy at least 7 yards. jWhen Connecting Threads has fabric marked down to less the $3 a yard and that's what I buy for backings. I don't try and matchy matchy my backing to the front but get a good co ordinating color or print. Backing is one of the biggest expenses of the quilt and I don't like to spend big $ for it but want quality stuff.

7 yards for what size? is that with piecing it?

i use over 9 yards for a queen when i make 3 strips. my quilts are about 95 - 98". i would guess it's the same for a king, yes? i use over 3 yards for that same size when i get 108" from joann for $4.99 with coupon. you're right: it's one of the most expensive parts of the quilt.

is everyone using the same amount? what about another way that saves fabric? anything?

7 yards is just my standard backing amount I buy when fabric is a good price. I use the tube method of making a backing. Unless my quilt is special I use a co ordinating fabric for the two sides and one different fabric for the middle panel for king size. 7 yards gives me enough for the two panels or several middle panels.

If you want to use all the same fabric on the backing, then I suppose you are stuck with buying yardage. I never know just how big my quilt is going to be so my backing is figured off the measured size + a healthy chunk for overage and stash.

I have seen some nice back art and am working at the courage to use up stash for backing. So far my back art has been limited to a center panel flanked by coordinating fabric on the side.

Quiltville has a table to help you figure out what yardage you need.

http://quiltville.com/backingyardage.shtml

There are a few sites that have 108" wide for $5-6/yd. I don't know what the quality is. I do plan to try some eventually. I just have everything I need for backings at the moment. If I remember correctly, Marshall Dry Goods and Whittles fabrics were among those in that price range. I just purchased regular width at $3.95/yd at Thousands of Bolts because I wanted a certain print for the back. Boy are they quick too. I got my UPS tracking number less than 4 hrs after I ordered!

I have several little "card" guides that tell me how much I need for a back, however: I have found them to say different amounts. The one in front of me at the moment says : Twin 5 1/4 yds, Double 5 1/4 yds, queen 7 1/2 yards and King 8 yards.
I buy fabrics for my backs when I can get a great deal. I have a shop that recently closed ( :cry: :cry: ) that would have a sale on New Years day and a selection of quilting fabrics would be on sale for $1.69 a yard. I would buy the rest of the bolt on one's I like. 8 - 10 yards on others if possible. I have enough backing fabric laying around here right now to back, oh ummm about 75 quilts. These pieces are from 5 to 17 yards. I can usually find one out of my stash that will work for whatever I'm doing. I keep my eyes open for great sales and I make sure that it is good quality fabrics. Just got 2 more large pieces at a garage sale Saturday for $2 per yard. A 10 yard piece and a 5 yard piece and several others for a total of 32 yards.

I try to use up all the extra fabric (and extra blocks) that I didn't use on the front.

according to this chart, i should be able to back my quilt with 6 yds. no way, jose. i've never gotten away with less than 8-1/2 - 9 yds. i use one entire length down the center and 2 more runs, one on each side for the sides. that makes 3 lengthwise runs. the only way to use less is to have a quilt less that 90", which only gives a 15" drop on each side. 15" doesn't even get me to my siderail. that chart says it's for 72" and under. also, think of today's boxes and mattresses. that changes everything.

buying it online: has anyone done that with the wide backings? the shipping makes it pricey even on sale. that stuff is HEAVY! i'll have to check and see what happens to the shipping if i attach it to a larger order. then it may amortize itself.

i've never tried that, but cheapie me likes that idea.

I wait til my fabric store is running the wide backing fabric on sale 40% or50% off and then I stock up. That way even at $10.00 a yard ( regular 18.99 a yard ) it's still a buy. At 108" wide one yard equals 2.5 yards of 44" quilting fabric. You would have to buy your 44" wide fabric at $4.00 a yard to equal the price.

I've done this a couple of times. Once with just 10" blocks of colors that matched the front, the other with larger pieces. Here's a link to what I did. http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/21630.page I really like how the back of that one came out. I was disappointed that I couldn't make room on the front for the seahorses, but used it all on the back. :) I've seen others that had panels of fabric and some extra blocks filling in the extra needed space. Looks nice that way too.

When you do check out the sites, watch for free shipping. Some do if your order is over a certain dollar amount. If you could get enough for a few quilts, it's probably worth a shot.

It seems like many of the fabrics I'm using are not even close to 44-45 wide. More like 41-42. So if you cut off the selveges, you'd still need 3 panels for a bed sized quilt. I forget the name of the site, but there's one that sells "fat backs" which are 3-1/4 (or 3-1/2 I forget which) yds by 108"wide. Pre-packaged cuts. I think they started around $40. Anyway, that must be a common amount for them to be marketed this way.

I use this method. It works the best for me.

http://www.reddawn.net/quilt/backings.htm

My self I buy flat sheets like for your beds to make my backs for my quilts and they work perfect for me..
Pickles

that looks terrific. won't make it on a 95 - 98"-er though. but i bookmarked it for the future. thanks for that one.

EEEEEK!

there just has to be a better way. the leftover way is looking better and better. i've been spending a small fortune until now, and i want to change that.

I am with Pickles some of the time. However, last month, our LQS ran a 20% off sale for backing fabric if you brought in your finished quilt top. It was great motivation for me to finish a UFO. She also had some fabric for $5 a yard and then the discount made it really cheap. And it was good quality. I know of another LQS up north that has backing fabric 25% off on the 15th of every month. I suggested that to my LQS. Maybe you could do the same with yours.

judee

ho ho ho! my LQS is joann's. do they give things away? i don't think so. they won't even let me use the bathroom.

I've seen some very creative ways the leftovers are used on the back. If you go on Quiltville's site and look at some of her quilts, she sometimes has links to pictures of the backs.

Have you ever tried to make a reversable quilt? That's another alternative where you could use up your scraps. My issue would be the quilting part. I gues an allover stipple or meandering pattern would do for that though.

I would be interested to know what folks are looking for, in terms of backing. We have not gotten into carrying backings... I guess I'm afraid of what on earth we will do with the rems - everybody will be buying 2.5 - 3 yards and then what do we do with the rest?

We do have a supplier who has a wide range of 108" blenders (all-over mottled shades) that are very reasonably price. They're not as wonderful to the touch as Wilmington's GORGEOUS tonal scrolls (which cost a lot more of course).

So... when you all buy backings, do you go for beauty or budget?

For my bed or a wallhanging for me, I'll go for budget. If it's a gift, I'd go for beauty.

For remnants, I've seen them sold as is. But, what if you cut to smaller pieces, FQ's, strips, half yds, etc.?

Me too, there are some adorable sheets out there. I wash them a few times, and they are good to go!!!!

[quote=Favorite Fabrics]I would be interested to know what folks are looking for, in terms of backing. We have not gotten into carrying backings... I guess I'm afraid of what on earth we will do with the rems - everybody will be buying 2.5 - 3 yards and then what do we do with the rest?

We do have a supplier who has a wide range of 108" blenders (all-over mottled shades) that are very reasonably price. They're not as wonderful to the touch as Wilmington's GORGEOUS tonal scrolls (which cost a lot more of course).






I try to go for beauty, but budget really dictates what I can get.

it depends on how much i like the quilt. if i like the way it turned out, i go for the bucks and feel it's worth it. if i don't like it very much, i'll go for something on sale, like joann's paisley in different colors. with a coupon it's $4.98.

i know that's hard for an LQS to compete with. like you, unfortunately, everyone has a bottom line.

i never go online for this, because the shipping brings the price way high. although...... if there was a great sale, i might get several at one time, to bring the shipping to $0.

it's often about money isn't it? i just don't don't always know the least amount i can get away with. quilt sizes change from one to the other.

Every back I have done, I usually wait till the top is done and then measure it. If it is wider that average fabric I know I have to double the yardage to buy. The one I am making for my bed, I will break down and get the 108". My sister can get it from Marshall's. It is VERY reasonable and I will probably get a bolt and be all set for some time.

Next Spring, Sis and I are going to Marshall's in person..........Starting to save up for that now.

is there a price advantage to his method? if the fabric is the same $, then why can't it match on the back?

http://flynnquilt.danemcoweb.com/med...onalpb1103.pdf


can anyone interpret this? it's supposed to be a way to use fabric that's narrower than the width of the quilt, but i don't do math, and i'm also not sure that it actually uses less fabric.

It can match but sometimes I have a big king size and only 7 yards of fabric for a backing. That's when I use different fabric for the middle or sides.

:thumbup:

go to frabric .com an look at there fabrics an see if you like any of them