Moira in N.E. England

Thank you for suggesting so many options . They’re all great ideas but I’m still undecided!

Bobbinalong

Most of the quilts that I make end up a little over the width of backing fabric and being too mean to buy more I will add scraps or spare blocks from the top. There are many ways you can do this and whatever you chose any one else will just think that it was intentional.

It will certainly be a better outcome than hoping for the best and ending up with being even half and inch tight.

ktbb

haven't read all the replies but didn't see the idea to just pillowcase the quilt - quilt the top and batting as desired. press well both top and backing then place the backing right sides together on the face of the quilt and stitch around all 4 sides, leaving a small opening to turn the piece right side out. After turning and making sure corners are as you like them, hand stitch the opening closed. Then do one or two bits of final quilting to tack the backing in place - for this I usually just restitch over a previous line of quilting for about an inch or less in several different places around the quilt. You could also hand tack it from the back thru the batting only so no stitches show on top.

Moira in N.E. England

This sounds similar to another method - I think it’s called ‘birthing’.

As it’s such a small quilt I wondered about putting the front and back right sides together, sew round three sides, turn right sides out, insert the wadding then quilt. It works in my head but whether it would work in practice is another matter!

FWLover

Personally my vote is with the suggestions of adding extra into the center area of the backing. Be creative with fabric and placement. Use 1/2” seams pressed open then if they happen to align with seam in the top there is less bulk. No worrying, gluing or stressing on how the needed extra will align with edges of quilt. I use this principle when clients have pieced extra strip on the backing. I start with the narrower added strip. That way I never end up with the seam only a couple of inches from the end of the quilt. IMHO it is always better to have the seam further from the edge.

tuckyquilter

I will often enlarge my backing by using up the leftover blocks etc and make a strip the lenght of the quilt for the backing. Will do same for width. Better to have to much than too little.

Quiltlady330

I believe it all depends on the thickness of the batting you are using. An 80/20 batting will not take up as much fabric as thicker or heavier battings. I wouldn't be surprised if a 2" coordinating border all the way around the backing before you quilt would take care of the possible overlap. Also, the heavier the quilting the more it will take up the fabric. Don't worry yourself too much about this; enjoy the challenge.

Moira in N.E. England

Last week I asked for help because the binding I wanted to use on a small quilt was the same size as the top - no extra ease around the sides.

I got lots of very helpful suggestions - thanks for those - but in the end I decided to use a thin wadding and simple quilting and did not increase the backing size as many of you suggested.

I got away with it - bet that never happens again!

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Queenbarbiej

Good job. I'm glad it worked out for you.

Iceblossom

So glad it worked for you, you made the right decisions for the scale of your project.

Sometimes I can get by with really close tolerances, the top I'm currently working on only had about an extra inch side to side on the batting but I did have plenty of the back for this one. Many of us have had the experience of somehow finding ourselves (too late!) an inch or two short on a long quilt... there are some creative solutions to that problem. Some pretty creative use of language too, but not fit to print!