BackSide Fabrics
When you want the BackSide of your quilt to look as good as the front!How to Square Up Your Quilt Backing
In order to figure out how much backing fabric to buy, start with the measurements of your quilt top. Take these measurements, and add 8 inches to the length and the width, plus extra to allow for squaring and shrinkage, if you plan to prewash. I usually buy at least an extra quarter of a yard more than I think I need.
Your longarm quilter will probably ask you to square up your backing. The reason she will ask you to do this is so that it gets loaded onto the quilting machine straight. If your backing edges are uneven, then chances are your backing will get loaded crooked, will roll up crooked, and can cause not only your backing ending up crooked, but also tucks or puckers in the back.
1. Make sure all the wrinkles are pressed out of your backing fabric.
2. Lay it out on the floor or a table that is large enough and fold it in half, selvedge edges together . Smooth it out so that the fold is nice and flat and there are no wrinkles. You can also do this with a helper by holding the fabric up by the selvedges and shifting the layers until the fold hangs straight, but this is usually not practical with a large backing. (This can take some time!)
3. Continue to fold your backing in half and smoothing until you get a width that is small enough to fit your largest cutting mat.
4. Place your cutting mat under a non-selvedge end of your folded backing, and using your ruler and rotary cutter, make a nice straight cut to even up the edges. Repeat for the other end.
5. To square up the selvedge edges, bring the side edges together that you just trimmed, and follow steps 2 -4 above.
6. After squaring your backing, measure it again to make sure that it is a total of 8 inches larger than the top (or whatever your quilter requires) if you are going to have it longarm quilted.
****You can also square your backing by folding it in half as described in Step 2 above, and then folding it in half again by bringing the non-selvedge edges together to form a “square”. Using your mat and rotary cutter, trim the two edges of your backing so that they are nice and square. I find the other method easier if you have a large backing and are squaring without a helper.****
Your longarm quilter will probably ask you to square up your backing. The reason she will ask you to do this is so that it gets loaded onto the quilting machine straight. If your backing edges are uneven, then chances are your backing will get loaded crooked, will roll up crooked, and can cause not only your backing ending up crooked, but also tucks or puckers in the back.
1. Make sure all the wrinkles are pressed out of your backing fabric.
2. Lay it out on the floor or a table that is large enough and fold it in half, selvedge edges together . Smooth it out so that the fold is nice and flat and there are no wrinkles. You can also do this with a helper by holding the fabric up by the selvedges and shifting the layers until the fold hangs straight, but this is usually not practical with a large backing. (This can take some time!)
3. Continue to fold your backing in half and smoothing until you get a width that is small enough to fit your largest cutting mat.
4. Place your cutting mat under a non-selvedge end of your folded backing, and using your ruler and rotary cutter, make a nice straight cut to even up the edges. Repeat for the other end.
5. To square up the selvedge edges, bring the side edges together that you just trimmed, and follow steps 2 -4 above.
6. After squaring your backing, measure it again to make sure that it is a total of 8 inches larger than the top (or whatever your quilter requires) if you are going to have it longarm quilted.
****You can also square your backing by folding it in half as described in Step 2 above, and then folding it in half again by bringing the non-selvedge edges together to form a “square”. Using your mat and rotary cutter, trim the two edges of your backing so that they are nice and square. I find the other method easier if you have a large backing and are squaring without a helper.****
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