Buying the wrong backing twice!
 

I made a quilt top that has actual pineapples shapes on it in tones of yellows, golds, greens of course for the pineapples. The background fabric is dark red which makes the pineapples "pop". Ordered a backing fabric off Facebook and when it came it's more of a chrome yellow...won't do. Went to Hobby Lobby and found a mustard yellow with white flowers and black stems. When I got it home … it's just barely ok.
So now I have two pieces each 4 yards in length that I probably won't use. Searching for the perfect piece to use again. Is this why my fabric stash keeps growing?? Of course! How many times have you bought the wrong backing to use? I feel like a dummy....

I've sometimes used a backing that I didn't think would matter (didn't really go with the quilt) and regretted it bigtime.
So now you have extra fabric but at least it's not forever in the quilt like mine. :)

I do that too. LOL I can usually can tell my quilting friends Oh I have the perfect backing for your quilt. I think the back of the quilt is as important as the front. I don't like using any fabric to get rid of it for the back. Use that fabric in scrap quilts.

For me it's borders... I have so many strips that I cut and some that I've actually sewn down and taken off again. I prefer to cut length wise so they are usually 3 yards long.

For one of my recent donation projects I set out with the idea of using a particular piece for the back. Only I decided the top needs another 4" of border all around and that's too big for the fabric. And the second choice. I found a 3rd choice that was large enough but I just didn't like it.

When I dove into my "pieces big enough for backs" to bring a selection for one of my Tuesday group members (she chose to keep looking) I found two pieces I had forgotten about, either of which would make a great back. And then one of the other Tuesday ladies brought fabric to share which included a perfect flannel for the back. Now I have 3 choices! Which means I have 2 more quilts to make...

Since the backing is as important as the quilt it is very important that the fabrics be a complete match. Because I don't always have the perfect eye for this kind of thing I frequently will use blenders and be safe. Then there are the times that I purchase the backing when I buy the primary pieces for the quilt so it will at least match one piece in the quilt then I know it will work. Now that I am working from my stash most of the time I try to pull a fabric that I can use small amounts of a few different pieces in the quilt top and sew together larger pieces of the pieced part to complete the backing. I like to make backs that look like overgrown crazy quilts for the back this way. It seems to work very well.

I usually have to buy more of the backing fabric. Most likely it is a coordinating print from the front fabrics in the quilt or something related.

I've never considered the backing as important as the rest of the quilt, so just pick something that is good enough out of my stash and use that. I've got a lot of "less desirable" wide backing I picked up at 75% off (it was what was left that no one else wanted). Most is either tonal or one color with white.

I had a similar problem. Was looking for the perfect golden yellow for a project. Kept buying what I thought would work and bought 5yds each no less, only to find out it wasn't the perfect golden yellow. So now I have lots of golden yellows with no idea what I'm going to do with it. And yes, I did find the perfect golden yellow........it was already in my stash. Drat it all!

I agree. I have done backings that in no way relate to the front and have been well pleased with the quilt. If I plan on going over the top with quilting, I will choose a solid back or something that reads solid so the quilting will show as the star and more often than not it is a solid wide muslin. I will also piece backings out of scraps and not necessarily use any fabrics I have used on the top. This quilt is a prime example of that. Here is the front:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]614724[/ATTACH]

and this is the back:
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Most of my stash is made up of fabric bought on line that turned out to be not quite what I thought it would be. When I used to have a LQS nearby, I would take the top in to choose a backing. Now that I choose backings on line, what I do is put a photo of the top up on my monitor while I browse for backings, so that I can see them together. It works pretty well, but there's always a chance that a fabric will look different in person than it does on a website.