Butterflyblue

I am making a baby quilt for my first grandchild. I’m very happy with the top, and I started to put together a piece back that I thought looked pretty good as well. Then my son saw it and I could tell he didn’t think it looked as good as I think it does, so I showed my husband and asked what he thought. He said it looks disjointed, like the parts aren’t really meant to go together. Now, I have not sewn the majority of the back, just laid the pieces out. I did cut some of them, but that’s no huge loss, i would cut them up anyway to make quilts. I do have sufficient yardage in my stash to have a single-fabric backing that coordinates with the quilt if I change my mind.

So I’ve heard the opinions of the males of my household on the pieced backing, and now I would like the opinions of people who actually quilt. I like pieced backings but I do like them to look nice, not just like a bunch of random scraps thrown together, more like their own quilt but with larger pieces than I generally use on the top.

The horse fabric has to have a piece inserted into it to be long enough. The horse fabric isn’t used in the top, but goes with the cowboy theme and general color scheme. I can’t just use the other fabrics (which are all in the top) because there aren’t enough of them and the quilt is wider than WOF.

I am really happy with how nice the top looks, and since it’s a baby quilt, I feel like the back will be seen more than for example, a bed quilt and i don’t want the back to detract from the top.
So what would you do? First pic is the backing, second is the top.
ETA: I do have both some light tan strips and some extra strips of the binding fabric (dark brown) which could be v inserted into the back somewhere. I have some of the green from the front of the quilt, maybe about a quarter yard.

bearisgray

The front has a lot going on. It is very masculine.

In general, I like the back of a quilt to be coordinate with the top.

If you have other fabric available, maybe you could take pictures of how that might look with that top?

As is, i tend to agree with your menfolk. if you have no other fabric available, go for it. If you do have other fabric, maybe rethink it?

SueZQ from MN

The top is great. It says "boy" perfectly, but the patched look and the pieced horse print just doesn't work for me at all. Sorry. I don't want to come across as mean, but I tend to agree with your husband. Since this is for your first grandchild, it is a very special gift. It is my humble opinion the back needs to be replaced with a small single print or check in either the dark red or a darker blue that is the same or very similar to the front colors. The top is very active and needs a calming back. I know that it would be an added expense to do this if you don't have a large enough piece in your stash, but the extra cost would co-ordinate the quilt top and back better so they look like they compliment one another and belong together. Whatever you decide to do, let the horses run free in another project, like maybe a "going to grandma's house" bag, haha

patricej

i'm afraid i also would not use the horse fabric.
since the other fabrics work well as laid out, stitch them together that way.
add other more compatible fabrics as borders until it fits the front.

that said, when it comes to whether a quilt looks good, non-quilters are equally qualified to those who do quilt.
you can trust your menfolk.

GingerK

I have to agree with the other folks here--and your fellas. It's a lovely top. Why confuse people with a back that looks like it might be another front? I would go with a much calmer back and binding that coordinates with both.

"cat"astrophy

Sorry, but I too agree with the menfolk...the entire back to me is way too busy with all the piecing. I too would go with a calmer back and maybe just all one piece.

LGJARN52

Personally the backing isn't coordinated enough for my liking, and it does look disjointed. Maybe if you have a larger piece of another fabric in your stash to cover the whole backside it would be better.

Quossum

I love a pieced back. I would leave out the star on the back; without it, I think the strips with the plaids and even the horse print "go together" better.

Butterflyblue

Okay, uncle! I appreciate all the opinions and honesty. I do think I’d rather back this particular quilt with a backing I feel completely confident in, and I had originally planned to use a single backing fabric anyway, so I decided to just do that. It also takes less time to not piece a backing, and I’m antsy to get this done.

It turned out that the backing fabric in my stash didn’t coordinate as well as I thought it might and I happed to be going by the LQS this morning, so I popped in to see what they might have. I found a clearance fabric in dark brown that will work for $5 a yard if I bought all that was left, which was a little more than I needed but it is a basic color I’ll use. I’m trying to sew down my stash, though, so it’s not progress in that direction.

bearisgray

Dark brown can be a surprisingly versatile color!

I can relate to trying to use what one has - but sometimes what one has, just is not "right" for the project.