Sewing the backing of your quilt together
 

Do you cut the selvage off the sides of the fabric of the back of your fabric before you sew them together? I usually do but I'm making a huge king quilt. I'm trying to decide if I want to cut them off since the backing is in three very long pieces and it will be a lot of work to cut them all and I am wondering about just sewing the seams to about 1" to cover the selvage and have all that bulk or cut all the selvages and sew them 1/4"? And how do you keep your cutting straight when you cut long cuts of selvage? It's always so wonky. Any tips on how to cut long strips of selvage?

I've learned to never leave the selvage, on something I'm sewing. It usually doesn't behave, like the rest of the fabric.

I would not leave selvage. On long strips, I would (Oh horrors!!) rip. I will always come out even that way.

I cut the selvedges off. I fold my fabric and use my 6x24 ruler and my rotary cutter to cut it. As long as your edges are even and you check to make sure the folded fabric is laying squarely on the cutting mat you have one long even cut. Good Luck!

You do not want to leave a selvege on because it is a tighter weave and will make the seam pucker. Also, for the backing, you should have a half inch seam for each section. This allows for more give and wear and tear with the finished quilt. You could measure the selvege width add 1/2" and sew that amout as your seam width. After the seam is sewn, you can go back and trim off the selvege width.

I agree to always remove the selvage. It is easy to do with a rotary cutter. I also agree that the seam allowance should be 1/2" or more.

The fibers used in the selvege edge are not the same as what in in the body of the fabric. It is there for the strenght as its pulled and rolled through the process. These fibers will likely shrink at a different rate that the rest of the fabric causing puckering.

I clip and rip. Then I sew them together with a good half inch seam.

if you leave the salvages on the fabrics there's a good chance when the quilt is laundered you will have a puckered seam- the salvages shrink/behave differently than the rest of the fabric & should always be removed. you could just snip next to the salvage & tear your fabric for a straight edge...sometimes it is easier than trying to cut.

Remove the selvedges. You can make a snip in the fabric and just rip the selvedge off. This will leave you with an edge that is on the fabric grain.