Category: Quilts

Often, the back of a quilt receives little thought. Once your top is finished, your batting purchased, there are things to consider when choosing your backing.

Choose your quilting thread first. If you want the thread to blend in, choose a backing which is similar in color and maybe a busier pattern such as a paisley or floral. If you want your quilting to show, solid-color fabrics will show off your quilting pattern (and your expertise).

Purchase  fabric which is the same quality as that which was used on the top of your quilt. Extra wide quilt back fabrics tend to be slightly heavier than standard quilt fabric. While excellent for machine quilting, the heavier weight may make it a little harder for hand quilting.

How much fabric to buy depends on many factors. The backing should be at least 3″ larger than the quilt top on all sides. (If you are having your quilt quilted on a long-arm machine, this amount should be even greater. Always check with your quilter.) Traditional quilting fabric is 45” wide. Once your remove the selvage, you should assume 40” to 42” of width in your calculations. For any quilt larger than crib-size or a small wall hanging, you will have to piece your backing fabric.

Traditionally, two or three widths of fabric are pieced together for larger quilts. If I am using two widths of fabric, I avoid having one straight seam running down the middle. I place one width of fabric down the middle and split the width of the other, sewing two halves on with one on either side of the center panel. When sewing the backing pieces together, use a ½” seam allowance and press the seam to one side. Do not press the seam open as this causes weakness in the seam and allows fibers from the batting to migrate through the seam.

Most backings, it seems, are made this way. However, you do have other options. What if you want to be a little more frugal or creative with your backing?

Several years ago, quilter John Flynn introduced us to a method using a diagonal seam across the back to save on fabric. It works on quilts that need backing up to about 60″ wide. The calculation sheet we’ve added to our website takes you step by step through the math. For the “mathphobes” out there, we’ve also found an online calculator.

Let me show you some interesting backings from my staff’s quilts.

My new Water Wheel quilt finishes about 41″ x 46″. It would be tricky to get the backing out of standard yardage.  But, there is an unused wide border print stripe in the kit. A standard width fabric (say 40″) could be divided and a border strip run up the length.

Or use leftover yardage and piece a strip that helps to make up the width as was done in this quilt for a small boy.

Sometimes, we have blocks leftover which didn’t make it into the quilt top.  These are wonderful to incorporate into the back. This small wallhanging was made with blocks leftover from a basket quilt. There were still leftover blocks and they were pieced into the backing.

A yard and a half (all that remained at the shop) wasn’t enough to cover the back of this quilt. The aqua fabric used as the back also served as the quilting design for the center of this quilt which was machine quilted from the back. Remnants from an earlier quilt were pieced to each side (and pieced to make a hanging sleeve).

There are so many options for your quilt back.  I’d love to see what you’ve done.

 

 

 

 

 

You don’t have to be a longtime quilter to understand the power of quilts. A quilt is much more than fabric joined together. It can be an expression of love, sympathy, joy, hope or caring. Just as the quilt can be all of these things, so can the process itself. Just joining two little pieces of fabric together can mean so much more than it appears. I was reminded of this by way some emails we recently received.

Amanda in Michigan contacted us recently. She and her friend Merry have joined us on the Quilters Quest Bus Trip. Last year, Amanda brought her Aunt Barbara and mom, Carol. On the Quest, Carol bought fabric to make a Mariners Compass she wanted to auction off at the national reunion of submarine vets (her husband is one) that is happening in Pittsburgh in September.  Before she could start the project, she had a massive stroke and was hospitalized in a rehab facility for three months.  She has limited use of her right side and speech is difficult and not always understandable. Carol insisted that the quilt still be made and, with the help of Barbara and Amanda, it was completed. This was Carol’s first goal and now she has another she’s working towards – to ride our Quilters’ Quest bus again in November.

David from Sydney, Australia, has an enthusiasm which can’t be matched. He is a brand new quilter who only started quilting in November last year. He had done dyeing, handspinning, knitting, and weaving all his life but arthritis forced him to stop knitting altogether and to cut back on spinning and weaving. His doctor suggested trying other things that use different movements to keep my hands agile. Sad when he thought he’d have to give up crafting forever, quilting has given him something to get excited about and something to aim for. He is currently working on Golden Album, Carnival and Columbia. David writes: “Quilting has taken over my crafting world! I love the idea that if I can draft it, I can make templates, and turn it into a quilt! The possibilities just astound me.”

Quilting gives us something to strive for, it brings us joy and it can also comfort. One of our local customers, Suzie, lost her son, Johnny, when he was only 31. After his death, quilting comforted her. She chose to make of quilt of simple squares remembering a quilt she made while caring for Johnny when he broke his leg a year earlier and how they enjoyed the time they spent together. While others worried that she was locking herself away, Suzie says, simply, that the process was comforting to her.

I felt the same way after the attacks of September 11, 2001. My Windows quilt served as therapy for me in the days which followed.

There is a wonderful exhibit taking place through July 26 in nearby Herndon, Virginia, called Sacred Threads. It was created to share the experiences of quilters whose stories would be a source of healing and strength. Here is one just one example of the quilts in the exhibit and the story behind it.

“I remember the first time I met my future sister-in-law, Annie. She was working in a residential facility. As she turned down a hallway, an elderly resident abruptly bellowed out, ‘Hey Annie! Give us a jig!’ Suddenly, this tiny, energetic woman with bouncy red curls joyously pranced and danced as laughter ensued.

“Annie was diagnosed with terminal multiple myeloma cancer in September, 2014. How do you live life knowing you are facing certain death? In Annie fashion, she recently donned my daughter’s tutu and jigged. With this quilt, I honor her spirit. Grieving, smiling, remembering, I attach that silly little tutu!”

Our lives are often incredibly busy and often this craziness translates to our quilting. While there is nothing wrong with quick quilts and timesaving methods, I hope you take the time to enjoy the process and the challenge, comfort, reminiscing, or pure joy you can derive from it.