Choosing Your Quilt Backing

We spend so much time choosing the perfect, quality  fabrics for our quilt tops; but when it comes to the backing we don’t make such careful decisions.   Some quilters will purchase inexpensive, low quality fabrics for the backings thinking, “It’s just the back … it’s no big deal!”  However, you need to keep in mind that the inexpensive fabric is not necessarily the same quality as the more expensive, quilt shop fabric.  You want a quality, strong fabric that will add years of wear to your finished quilt. 

You’ll also want to consider the following when choosing your backing:

Fiber Content

• 100% cotton is most often preferred choice
• Use the same fiber as what was used in the top so your fabrics will wear evenly.
• Stretchy fabrics (i.e., Minkee or fleece) work well for a backing; however, using these fabrics could increase the chances of tucks and puckering during quilting

Print or Solid?

Prints:

• Pro: Print fabrics will hide any “starts and stops” (backstitching) or heavy thread play in the quilting
• Pro:  If you have multiple thread colors being used in the top and you don’t want to see them on the back, a print fabric will camouflage the color changes.
• Con:  Quilting will not be as noticeable

Solids:

• Pro: Solid fabrics will “showcase” the quilting and make your quilt “reversible”
• Con:  Unlike a print fabric, the solid will show every “start and stop” (backstitching) or heavy thread play in the quilting.
• Con: If you have multiple thread colors being used in the top, the color changes on the back may not be as attractive.

Calculating Yardage:

Calculating the amount of yardage needed for your backing can be overwhelming.  Your backing needs to be at a minimum 6-8” larger than your quilt top.  For example, if your quilt top measures 50” x 60”, your backing needs to be at least 58” x 68”.  Using these numbers, we can now determine the yardage needed.

Option 1 – Extra Wide Backing (108” wide)

An extra wide backing would not need to be seamed.  You would purchase your yardage based on the width of your fabric, so you would  only need  58” (or about 1 1/3 yards of fabric).

Option 2 – Seaming Your Backing (42/44” wide)

When seaming your backing, you need to determine which direction you want your seam to run – horizontally (the width of your quilt) or vertically (the length of your quilt).   Because of how the backing is loaded onto the rollers of the quilt frame, some pantograph patterns will only work on backings that have been seamed horizontally.  Pantograph patterns which work best with horizontally seamed backs will have a notation stating such.

Once you’ve established how you want your seam(s) to run on your backing, you need to determine yardage.   For our example, I am going to seam my backing horizontally and the fabric I have chosen is about 40” wide.  In order to have enough fabric for the 68” in length, I’ll need two strips of fabric that are 58” x 40”.  So, 2 x 58” = 116” or 3 ¼ yards of fabric.

When seaming your backing, it is really important to remove the selvages before you stitch your seam.  The selvage edges are woven tighter than the rest of the fabric and can cause puckering in your backing.  I also recommend using a ½” seam.

Seam placement is also something you need to take into consideration.  Most quilters will take their backing yardage, cut it into two or three equal lengths and widths and sew the seams together.  You don’t want to center your seams to the quilt top, as your seams are going to be the weakest point on your backing.  When folding your quilt, you don’t want any of your seams to end up on a fold as the constant folding and unfolding can cause stress on those seams and end up breaking the threads. 

So rather than seaming your backing with your seam going across the center…

   

…consider seaming your backing dividing “B” in half and sewing the two pieces on either side of “A”

Your backing will still be the width and length you need but the seams are now located where they are less likely to be on a fold line.

 If at all possible, you want to avoid backings that are pieced like this . . .

 

You want to try to keep all of your seams going in the same direction.  The backing is attached to the leaders on the take up rollers so that the seams run parallel to the rollers.  As the backing is rolled up, the seam will have more tension on it than the sides, causing the sides of the backing to sag.  The vertical seam in the example above could cause potential tucks or pleats in the quilting.  
 

Once you have seamed your backing, press your seams well.  You can press the seam open or to one side.  Be sure to press your backing to remove any set-in creases as well.  Fold carefully to minimize wrinkling.

If you have any questions about backings, please feel free to contact me with any questions.

One last tip about backings … if you have a quilt that has long straight strips in the body of the quilt, consider seaming your backing in the same direction as the strips.  This will allow the quilt top to be mounted in a way so that the strips on the quilt top can be quilted in a single pass without multiple stops and starts.

Happy Quilting,

Patti