Seam on quilt backs
 

Hello to all,

I've only heard recently that "you shouldn't be putting your seam vertically on the quilt back!!" (Almost like it was a crime or something) I use a long arm to quilt my quilts, and have never heard of such a "rule" - what reasoning is there behind this? :hunf:

Thanks in advance.

I don't know...I put mine wherever I need to...whoops, guess I'll get a ticket...

I buy wide backs now, but when I seamed my backs, I always made the seams vertical. I did my backs in 3 pieces so I wouldn't have a center seam.

I think I've read that longarm quilters don't like vertical seams, but I'm not sure about that.

There's two schools of thought for placing seams on a longarm. If they're vertical (perpendicular to the rollers) some longarmers feel that they make a lump in that area as they are rolled, keeping the quilt from rolling evenly. I recently watched a video by another professional longarmer who said that this is not the case and that the seams should be kept perpendicular to the rollers, though I don't remember what the reasoning was, or who the longarmer was. I think it had to do with keeping the quilt perfectly square. At any rate, as far as I know it is just a longarmer's preference, and since the longarmer can usually place the quilt in either direction on the frame it really shouldn't matter.

if your quilt is large- and your backing is seamed vertically - when it is rolled up on the take up rollers it builds in the center-layer upon layer upon layer-building bulk 4-layers at a time-where there is only one layer on the rest of the backing- causing (baggy-saggy) outside edges- when the backing is pieced horizontally - when you load it & roll it- the seam lays nice & flat-straight along the bar- no bulky build up in the center of the backing- it does not make a huge difference when the quilts are fairly small- but the larger it is the more build up bulk since with each turn of the bar is another 4 layers of fabric in the center....... that is the reasoning ....... now days there are so many wonderful wide backs available--- often much less expensive than buying yardage to piece- that the whole situation is easy to avoid. over the years I have quilted lots of quilts with vertical seamed backs- they just take more time, care, and work- a nice horizontal seam is so much nicer to work with....some people do a diagonal seam on their backs- I have not (so far) had anyone bring me one that way - most of my customers have started buying wide backings.

Ckcowl, thanks for a good explanation. :)

Thank you ckcowl! I appreciate you taking the time to give such a great explanation! :thumbup:

I put the seam wherever I can use less fabric, usually horizontal. I'm a longarmer and really don't have a preference although the wider backings are nice.

Can you add an illustration? I am just not visualizing what you are saying.

Since most of my quilts do not have an up or down, my seams, when I have them, can go in any direction. I have not heard of this "rule" before either. I'd ignore it.