Well I have finished basting my top and backing together and thought I would share my "travels" with you. I have a top consisting of 8" chevrons in 11 rows. The backing is 2 pieces of plain/marbled pink with an off centre lengthways strip of chevrons. I needed the back strip of chevrons to align with one of my vertical rows of chevrons on the top.
First problem I encountered was sewing the back pieces and chevron strip together. Whilst one backing piece and the chevron strip seamed beautifully, the seam joining the second backing piece and the chevron strip was a nightmare resulting in some slight bunching along the seam. I unpicked and re-sewed it three times, with great care not to stretch either fabric etc but to no avail. Perhaps it was the quality of the backing strip, perhaps it was an unevenness in the qualities of the chevron fabric assortment but either way, I was not going to try a fourth time. So, there may be some wrinkle in the finished backing or it may settle with the quilting, or not really be noticeable shhhhhhh!...meh.
So onward I went. I pushed a drawing pin into the corner of each of the backing strip chevrons.
Next, I flipped the backing over to the wrong side, taped it down and placed the batting on top pushing it down over the pins. I then followed with the top, lining up the corners of my chosen lengthways strip of chevrons with the pins poking out from the batting. I then used my basting pins to secure the quilt sandwich at the column of "chosen" chevrons and once secure, flipped the quilt over to the right side and removed the drawing pins. I really didn't want them in the fabric any longer than need be.
I then turned the quilt back over so now I had a sandwich pin basted down the middle strip. I secured the backing to my table, smoothed out the batting and then the top and continued the sandwiching and pin basting as per normal.
On reflection, I am not so sure that my expertise level has allowed me to do a particularly good job of a 3 pieced backing...something to work on in the future or perhaps never try again....haha, like eating cabbage! Once the quilting has been done I will be able to judge my success.
Thanks everyone for their suggestions on how to go about this "lining up" caper.