Binding a Quilt with the Backing Fabric~ 1- make sure your backing fabric is larger than the quilt top by at least 2″ 2- trim your batting to the edge of the quilt top. First, if you don’t know, a quilt sandwich is nothing more than the pieced quilt top, the batting and the backing. oh, yes… Nadine are you also a swimwear designer? On larger quilts that I’ve made (bed size +) I have used three lengths of fabric instead of just two, and used one entire fabric width down the middle, with narrower widths down each side so that there’s not a seam in the middle of the backing. If I had a set of those ginormous cutting mats in my studio, I might be a bit more precise and exacting when I cut my backings. So, unless it’s a baby quilt, you almost always have to piece a quilt back. If it’s that far off of being straight, will the quilt hang straight in the end? 4- fold the backing fabric 1/4″ 5- fold the backing fabric again 1/4″ 6- stitch along the edge to secure the binding Loved the suit! This machine bind a quilt method will leave a visible stitched line around the back of your quilt so use a bobbin thread that matches the quilt backing and a top thread that matches the binding. Lay the batting and the quilt top on the backing with the sides of the quilt top parallel to the selvedges of the backing and baste. The one problem I have, however, with every quilt I make, is the fact that it is awful hard to machine quilt on j… If you’re making a very large quilt that will be folded a lot, some folks say not to put a seam down the middle because it’s a stress point when the quilt is folded. After Kathy’s great and precise tutorial at Pink Chalk Studio, this one probably seems a bit slap-dash, but hey, there’s always more than one way to go about it! Partly, that’s to keep the tutorial simple, but also because I rarely do anything else these days. I work with a 24″ x 36″ mat however—while it isn’t exactly tiny, you can’t cut huge backing-sized pieces of fabric on it. You will quilt the project as desired prior to finishing the binding. A good idea is to use fabrics from the same collection. Quilt As You Go Tutorial: The Easiest Way to Machine Quilt. Using a ½” seam allowance here keeps any of the little spots where the fabric grain is out of whack after tearing from showing on the right side, and gives a little more stability to that seam in the backing fabric. This technique produces a double-sided quilt; if you want to use both sides, plan ahead what to use as backing for your blocks. Yay! V. Heh, you caught me! Example Quilt: Once borders are added, the finished quilt top dimension is 58″ x 66″ Take quilt top width + 8″ = backing width 58″ + 8″ = 66″ Take quilt top length + 8″ = backing … How to add batting to a quilt; how to add backing to a quilt, and ; how to bind a quilt. April 3, 2009 May 18, 2017 ~ Nadine. I’m a beginner yet, so it’s constantly challenging and fun and creative all at once. Maybe I'll try overdying it! If I had a set of those ginormous cutting mats in my studio, I might be a bit more precise and exacting when I cut my… Measure your quilt top from the top to the bottom, and add 6-8″. | DreamWeaver’s Quilts Quilt Epiphany Blog, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. if your quilt top is 70x85, add 8” each way making it 78x93, then you will need 93” times two, or 186”. Let me know if this is helpful, or if you have questions! If your quilt top is more than 36″ wide, multiply the number from step 1 above by 2. Fold all the way down to the next edge. Finishing A Quilt Part 2- Adding Batting and Backing - YouTube Backing fabrics should have the same care requirements as the quilt top. Fortunately it has only happen to me once on a quilt of my sisters. There are some common quilt backing problems to watch for when backing your quilt. Your seam is not down the center so that is okay. This means if the length of your top, plus the 4” top and bottom, adds up to less than 90" (45”x2)then you could use two widths of fabric. Center the quilt top on top of the batting with its right side up and smooth away wrinkles. I have shied away from backing construction and have favoured wide backing material, but the selection isn’t too exciting, I know. Saved by Margaret Morgan. Here are the steps you need to follow. Sometimes it gets flipped over, or scrunched somehow and the back shows. Hi Valentina! An example would be my halloween quilt, which has a lot of one type of halloween fabric on it (see the my Quilt Gallery), but also has a section made up of great seasonal fat quarters which may never have been used on a quilt top. Your t-shirt quilt top is finished! This is about the only time I tear fabric, and I’d never do it to actually piece a block or sashing or something. Start anywhere, and fold the binding over halfway…. Now tear the selvedge from one side of one of the chunks—pick the printed selvedge side if there is one, so that you can keep track of the fabric print direction, especially if you’re working with a directional print and want both halves of the backing to be “right side up!” Just make a little snip into the fabric about ½-¾” in from the selvedge edge, and tear the whole selvedge off, like this: Press the fabrics, including all those torn edges, because they’ll all be a little ruffly and stretched at this point. Having said that, I confess that I do break my own rules sometimes by not purchasing nice co-ordinating fabric for a back. Sew It Together. A busy backing hides less-than-perfect quilting stitches on the back of the quilt. Jul 17, 2016 - After Kathy's great and precise tutorial at Pink Chalk Studio, this one probably seems a bit slap-dash, but hey, there's always more than one way to go about it! About This Tutorial Watch Rob's easy-to-follow demonstration of how to baste a quilt top, batting, and backing together. Layer the batting and the quilt top on the backing, with the sides of the quilt parallel to the selvedges of the backing, centering the quilt center on the backing seam line and centering the quilt from top to bottom on the backing. I try to take advantage of the show-through by using a fleece print that harmonizes with the colors on the front. Very pretty quilt. . A quilt usually tends to have three layers sandwiched together; they are the quilt top, batting, and finally, the backing. Place the ruler on the fabric, leaving the fold showing and trim off a slither (about 1/8″) to cut the pieces. The back of your quilt should be about 3-4” larger all around than the top of the quilt. The batting, obviously, is the meat of the sandwich, while the fabric top and back are the bread. Go to "Lesson 5 - Basting/Layering", Please, leave us your thoughts, stories and comments by clicking here, © Copyright 2007-2016 quilt-lovers-guide.com NO REPRODUCTION PERMITTED, Quilt of the Month | Quilting & Binding | Classes | Cruises | My Personal Experience |Quilting | Testimonials   Quilting Retreats: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9, © Copyright 2007-2016 quilt-lovers-guide.com. Quilt As You Go Tutorial. I like to start about 18 inches from the bottom corner. It’s likely that they won’t and it doesn’t matter anyway. The bold and funky Bayside quilt pattern is available in the pattern shop! It is possible to purchase extra wide fabric made specially for the purpose of quilt backing, and it is great. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. This is workshop #8 in a series of workshops where art quilt designer Janeen van Niekerk shows us how to make a simple quilt. On a quilt that’s pretty small, but wider than typical fabric yardage (36″+) I usually just put a seam down the middle. It simplifies quilting for beginners because it is an easy way to join quilted pieces by machine. The top is what we see, the batting is the padding in the middle, and the backing is the underside of the quilt, the one we get to see when we flip the quilt. Trust me, it won’t matter one bit later, but pressing now is good for ease of construction. (Flynn was a bridge-building engineer before he became a quilter, and you can tell it from his great tricks.) It doesn’t matter if the quilt backing is perfectly square or rectangular, or has perfectly straight ends—you’re going to cut off all the edges later anyway when you trim up before binding. Always double-check that you have enough extra backing on all four sides of your quilt top in preparation for quilting. Nadine, does this mean you only have one seam down the middle of your backing? So, I occasionally "use up" bits and pieces for the quilt backing, and unfortunately I'm not always happy with the result. I did think about getting those mats and adding another giant cutting table to the studio, but at the moment, I’m more in love with the floor space than I would be with more furniture in the room. Now, if for instance, your quilt is about 60” wide, then I would not make two narrow side panels, -- I feel it is already offset from center by having one full panel of 44” and adding about 20” on one side only. This is how I’ve pieced the backings on all my quilts for years, including the quilts for show. Third, apply basting spray to the back of the batting and center it on the backing piece. Take the yardage from step 3, and cut a small snip in the selvedge at the halfway point, and then rip the length of yardage in half crosswise, so that you have two chunks that are 6-8″ longer than your quilt top. Now, we’re going to cut the backing. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This is what’s left, one selvedge with printing, one without, and a bunch of string bits: I know Jodie is out there salivating over the selvedge; I did save it Jodie, to start my collection so that I’ll be ready when you write that book! ... Generally you have a quilt top and a backing- and when you quilt you do so according to the patterns or designs on the top and it doesn’t necessarily matter what is on the backing. It kind of gradually fades awayon the sides, so that there’s not a bump on each side of the seam where the edge of the seam allowance is. Always ensure your quilt back is the same shape as your quilt top. I actually prefer to choose a backing that co-ordinates with the top of the quilt. 3- trim your backing fabric to 3/4″ from the quilt top. Measure the width plus 8” and purchase two times this number. I hope you enjoyed this little ‘how-to’ tutorial and will give it a go the next time you have a patterned backing that will benefit from being patterned matched. You can also make a horizontal seam on the back. How to figure yardage for quilt backing: The back of your quilt should be about 3-4” larger all around than the top of the quilt. Press the seam open. Valentina. Sew your blocks, in any technique you want. However, following a quarter of an inch was hard this way… So 1/2″ makes a lot more sense! You can do this with scissors, but my preferred method is to use arotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat. 6. How to fix puckered quilt backing : I run into some problems with my badly puckered quilt back and I thought I’ll share with you a short tutorial on how to fix it . Pin the lengthwise torn edges together; it’s good to lay the two chunks on a cutting mat or table so that they’re flat when pinning. I would purchase 5 1/2 yds or 4.8 m (186" divided by 36" for yard, or divided by 39" for meters. 1.4k. Also it is more comfortable if you are snuggling under a quilt, to NOT have the seam down the middle. If your quilt top is less than 36″ wide, divide this measurement by 36″ and purchase this much yardage for your backing. TUTORIAL - SQUARING A QUILT BACKING I am going to show you how I square my quilt backings. So if this is your first quilt, you may want to use a background fabric that matches your quilt top in value—lightness or darkness— or in busy-ness. PRESS the four corners in so the point of the backing fabric touches the point of the project, but doesn’t overlap. You may want to baste the layers lightly together with basting spray, but for a quilt this small, I usually don’t baste. The width of your quilt comes from the length of the backing. When shopping for quilt backing some people like to purchase inexpensive fabric, or plain muslin for the backing of their quilts. It should be preshrunk if the quilt top fabrics were. Pin or clip into place. Instead of handling bulky quilts, you can quilt your project one block at a time. Yes, there’s only one seam down the middle on this particular backing. Slap-dash but effective, and heck, sometimes ripping fabric is just fun! Finished with "Quilt Backing"? It is harder to see the quilting on a busy fabric. The reason for this, is that a quilt gets most of its wear down the center and a seam there will wear faster. Kathy’s great and precise tutorial at Pink Chalk Studio, Accessorize Me–with Inchies! Common Quilt Backing Problems . Shop Quilt Backing and Extra Wide fabric at Fabric.com! It still "goes with" the quilt top, without being overly expensive. You can do this on your ironing board and press it as you go…it makes it very simple. Sometimes I try to "use up" what I've got -- after all, isn't that what quilting is all about? I can’t decide whether that’s supposed to be a swimsuit or a fancy bra and panties, so I think I’ll leave it open to interpretation! It can be squares or strips or whatever you want to create. Also included is a video tutorial on cutting those tricky templates AND a coloring … This kind of backing involves sewing a lot of seams, perhaps even a leftover block or two, and a bit of puzzle work too! REPEAT the process of folding in the corners and pressing, then the edges and pressing – this time enveloping the raw edges of your quilt block or project with the fabric. So here’s Nadine’s quick and dirty, rip-it-up backing tutorial: Tear the opposite selvedge from the other chunk of backing fabric, in other words, if you’ve torn off the selvedge with all the dots and fabric manufacturers marks from the first chunk, tear the selvedge without all those marks off the second chunk. Start by flipping the the binding over to the front of the quilt. Unless it is a fun and funky quilt like the halloween one, I think I'll stick to a co-ordinated backing! 1. Well, okay, that last step is shortened a bit, but that’s not part of this tutorial anyway! RRRRIIIIPPPP! When you get to a corner, fold the corner up like so…. See how I’ve moved the needle a bit to the left, so that the torn edges stick out to the right? Keep the tutorials coming! Use a backing that coordinates with the quilt top if both will be visible during use. If you cannot find extra wide backing fabric that co-ordinates with your quilt, then you have to purchase enough yardage of a quilting cotton so that you can sew it together and make it big enough for your quilt. Blog reader Betty C pointed out that the colors on the backing fleece can ghost through the fabric on the quilt top. Quilting probably started when someone wanted to use up the scraps left over from dressmaking. I'm afraid I must also say that I have in the past purchased yards of fabric at a sale, thinking I could someday use it on the back of a quilt. My first quilting teacher in 1994 (who did not believe in rotary cutting…) also taught us to rip, from blocks to sashing… Yep, this was my intro to quilting. The Quilt As You Go technique (QAYG) is a way to quilt blocks before putting a quilt together. If there’s a lot of excess backing fabric on the sides of the quilt sandwich, you can tear it off, leaving 3-4″ outside the quilt top on each side. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down. John Flynn's Diagonal backing calculator helps to minimize the amount of fabric needed for your quilt backing. Labels: how to, long arm quilting, longarm quilting, quilt, quilt backing how to, tutorial. Double-Check that you have questions ( Flynn was a bridge-building engineer before he became a quilter, and can... That last step is shortened a bit to the left over fabric from the to. 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