Great information because this a concept I want to try.

Hi everyone! I did quilt Christmas Wishes from the side with the deer and the house and my quilting was done to enhance that side and I figured the designs would just fall "wherever" on the other side. I quilt on longarm that is mounted on a rack and it is near impossible to line up the two sides if you had two quilts the same on top and bottom, actually one would have to be a mirror image of the other but even then I wouldn't attempt it. On mine, I messed up on my measurement on the top. I thought I had it centered within an inch from top to bottom (side to side lining up is much easier). But I must have wrote it down wrong. So I ended up chopping some of the blocks on the bottom of the scrappy side. As it was mine I didn't really care as I was so happy with the overall finish.

Anytime I have done a double sided quilt, I choose one side that is the "top" and custom quilt it for that, and let the chips fall where they may for the back. I would never attempt to line up a double sided quilt so the quilting falls perfectly on both sides. I value my sanity (what little is left) too much. :D There may be someone out there in the quilting world who can do it on a rack but I am definitely not one of them. I do know it is possible to do it with a QAYG method. Easier to control where the quilting lines fall when quilting one block at a time.

I have quilted 2 sided quilts on both my domestic machine and my longarm.
Sometimes if you hit where two seams meet on both sides you have a problem, like in a center of a 4 patch, but I just try to avoid the centers in choosing a quilting pattern.
It defiantly helps to have a quilt on the bottom that is not as detailed. I have so many quilts to finish and so little time it helps me get more done.
But not all quilts are a candidate for that type of quilting. I would never attempt a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt with all those pieces as a good choice. Having said that I have used "scrap" and "string" quilts as backs. I also often take my leftover pieces of fabric and sew them together in rectangles and strips and squares to make a pieced back.
If you quilt by checkbook, check with your longarm quilter because I have two friends who quilt for other people. One will do double sided quilts, the other will not.

Thanks everyone!

I just received my books on the Cotton Theory. Very interesting and she does the double sided quilts on a domestic sewing machine.

I made a California King size Court House Steps using Betty Cottons technique. Beautiful. You MUST have an “Add a Quarter” ruler. I cannot say enough good things about this ruler for this technique.

I usually do a sort of 2 sided quilt. I rarely have a plain backing. I use up extra blocks or fabrics or, at the very least, add stripes, triangles or just large pieces to put a backing together. I just like the looks of something on the back. When making the decision on the quilting, I usually only think about the top. It has always worked out with the backing.

I do a lot of 2 sided quilts, I always do QAYG. I choose the patterns (top and back) specifically to go w/ what I am planning for quilting (or specifically so the quilting on one side doesn't matter) and quilt through all layers at the same time.