Two sided quilts question
 

I was just admiring Feline Fanatic's amazing Christmas quilt in the pictures. How is that done? Do you quilt both sides individually and then put them together?

I would think you can quilt the three layers as usual, just use some sort of overall pattern that will work for both sides. I'm about to try it with two vintage quilt tops I have.

i did a two sided with these. hour glass on one side. quilted through all layers.

She explains in her post how she quilted through all the layers on her Innova. She did a terrific job on it.

This is very interesting. Hope there will be more posts on this. I have so many tops and would love to quilt them back to back.

i've done it two different ways.

the first time i lined up all the seams and intersections from both sides by sticking straight pins through and then basting into place. then i used quilting that worked well with the block designs on both sides.

the second time, i just made sure both sides were properly aligned at the borders, accurately squared off, and smooth to the batting from both sides. i also did my best to make sure the blocks on each side were laying properly within the layout of their respective tops. i spray basted both sides, as well. then i used an edge-to-edge motif so none of it had to line up or fall specifically anywhere on either side.

the first method is infinitely more tedious.

the second works well. i'd recommend not using complex blocks on both sides. complex on one side; very simple on the reverse. that way, if you decide on fancy-shmancy quilting that enhances the complex side, it will also look great on the back. :)

I'm waiting to see what Feline says about her quilt too.....

I have tried all the above techniques and QAYG. The first thing I tried was quilting the 2 separate tops using thin battings, then quilting those together. That works, but makes for a thicker, heavier (and warmer) quilt.

Easiest for me was lining up front and back accurately then using a big (not tiny, intricate) overall quilt design.
Next easiest- QAYG.

Kalama Quilts does lots of double sided quilts too....I wonder what her fave technique is.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]610857[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]610856[/ATTACH]When I did each of my two double sided quilts, I chose my quilting for the side I considered the 'front' and let the stitches fall where they may on the back. On the one pictured, the echo stitching around flowers on a 'front' became a design element on the 'back'.

Great quilt! You did a nice job. Thanks for sharing.

Ha! I looked at that and looked at that this morning. I swear it looked like each side was quilted specifically for that pattern. Eventually, though I saw that the quilting is done to enhance the "top" top - the one with the deer and hearts on it. There was a shot where I could see that there are quilted hearts showing on the bottom of the star that is on the right of the "back" top.

Pretty amazing, isn't it?

I have done two - sided, but they did not have any custom quilting, just an overall panto (I quilt by check),so it was not nearly as clever looking.

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.