Sneaky/Subtle Stripes -
#21
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 818
Iceblossom, I can see how you lined up the small stripes (very impressive), but what approach did you use to make sure the stripes were perpendicular? I can envision having it slightly (or seriously) wonky after quilting and trimming. For that reason, I have avoided a striped back at all costs, but it really adds a lot.
hugs,
charlotte
hugs,
charlotte
#22
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
Posts: 6,168
I may up regretting that choice of a back especially because the poly content will make it extra slippery, but while there is some movement to the back and the finished product may be an inch or two off over the course of the quilting I find there usually isn't all that much if you are careful with layout.
Being able to load the quilt on a long-arm is the best, but you can do it with spray baste or other methods. You just line up everything nice and square and hope for the best. You concentrate on the middle and let the length work itself out.
With the striped back, it is plenty wide and plenty long, those are the key things. That daisy background required quite a bit of math and measuring and fussing to get the design to center in the back, plus I cut it off-sides so the seam wouldn't be in the middle. I much prefer to have 4-6 extra inches of backing fabric than 1-2"!
Here's a couple of pieced backs I've made both with similar concepts where I used long lengths of fabric with a pieced center. If you went through and measured the sides, they aren't consistent top to bottom or side to side -- but they look consistent! The first was my first pieced back, or at least pieced so you could tell it was pieced and was for a cat-themed quilt, done maybe 10 years ago? The second I just put together for the back of my "Postcard" quilt.
Edit: When I layer my top with the Postcard back, I will have about 4-6" of the globe fabric along the top border. The panel you see at the bottom will be cut off at some point and go to the end. I decided I didn't want to bother with finishing all four sides with the globe print since the bottom will be about 75% globe with that little bit of panel. (The panel was terribly printed and out of square every way it could be. Not suitable for use as a panel.)
Being able to load the quilt on a long-arm is the best, but you can do it with spray baste or other methods. You just line up everything nice and square and hope for the best. You concentrate on the middle and let the length work itself out.
With the striped back, it is plenty wide and plenty long, those are the key things. That daisy background required quite a bit of math and measuring and fussing to get the design to center in the back, plus I cut it off-sides so the seam wouldn't be in the middle. I much prefer to have 4-6 extra inches of backing fabric than 1-2"!
Here's a couple of pieced backs I've made both with similar concepts where I used long lengths of fabric with a pieced center. If you went through and measured the sides, they aren't consistent top to bottom or side to side -- but they look consistent! The first was my first pieced back, or at least pieced so you could tell it was pieced and was for a cat-themed quilt, done maybe 10 years ago? The second I just put together for the back of my "Postcard" quilt.
Edit: When I layer my top with the Postcard back, I will have about 4-6" of the globe fabric along the top border. The panel you see at the bottom will be cut off at some point and go to the end. I decided I didn't want to bother with finishing all four sides with the globe print since the bottom will be about 75% globe with that little bit of panel. (The panel was terribly printed and out of square every way it could be. Not suitable for use as a panel.)
Last edited by Iceblossom; 09-17-2019 at 07:36 AM.
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