Quilt Backing
Preparing Your Quilt for the Longarm
Whether you are preparing your quilt yourself or entrusting this part of the process to me, here are some key points to ensure everything goes as planned.
Press your Seams:
Flatten your seams without any folds or bumps. Also, remember to iron your quilt from the top. After pressing, fold it neatly to keep it looking sharp.
Baste Outer Edge Seams:
For quilts with seams along the outer edges, take a moment to baste through these seams, about 1/8th of an inch inside the edge. This helps secure those outer seams in place.
Trim Threads:
Be sure to tidy up your quilt top by removing any loose threads on both the front and back. Give your quilt seams a quick inspection for any holes, and fix them up if needed.
Prepare Backing:
Backing should be 5 inches each side wider than the top and 5 inches on the top and bottom longer than the quilt top.
This means the backing should be 10 inches longer and 10 inches wider than the top.
If it’s larger, that’s fine. I will put it on the frame to maximize the pieces/remnants of the back you will get back at the end. Better to have a bit more. Most quilts are not exactly square so it’s nice to have a bit of working room.
Piecing your Backing:
It is much nicer if you place the seam across the width of the quilt. The seam is dealt with once and is easier to keep straight than to have it running down the back of the entire quilt (but remember how quilts are not usually perfectly rectangular?). Some fabric patterns don’t allow this and that’s fine too.
Take the selvedge off the 2 pieces of fabric and use a 1/2-inch seam and press it out flat. Ensure you use the correct colour of thread as the backing. Usually, you can take the width of the quilt, add 5 to 6 inches and cut 2 pieces of 44-inch-wide fabric (usually, you can get 84 inches long at least using this method). If your quilt is longer, then you can either put the seam down the length or add another strip.
Batting:
When it comes to batting, you’ve got some options. To get the best results, make sure your batting extends 5 inches beyond your quilt on all sides. I recommend 100% cotton, 80/20 cotton/poly blend, bamboo, wool or wool blend. I do not recommend 100% polyester.
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