Is there something in the air? Is it spring madness? Lately, we’ve seen some tiny quilt backs. I’m talking about quilt backs a mere 2″ bigger than the front. That’s tight! Ideally, your quilt back should be 6″ – 10″ longer and wider than your top. There may be a pieced quilt back in your future!
You can read our tips on how to piece a quilt back and the 9 steps to matching prints on a quilt back, but how about a few ideas to fuel your creative piecing of that nice, big quilt back?
3 Approaches to a Pieced Quilt Back
- Add a contrasting fabric down the middle of your quilt back. Linda rented one of the hand guided machines this week and was gracious enough to let us photograph her backs. In the first quilt back, she’s added a coordinating print to two strips of solid.
In her second quilt back, she stitched strips of black on black prints and bordered them in red. What a great way to use up the leftovers!
- Apply the Rule of Thirds to your quilt back. The Rule of Thirds is used by artists and cinematographers to create a pleasing composition. The camera on your phone may have the horizontal and vertical grid which divides your frame into a “nine patch” or “tic tack tow.” Creating movement around the center quadrant is pleasing to your eye. How do you do this yourself? Take the dimensions of your quilt back and divide them by 3. Add a strip of fabric a third of the way across your back or create your own nine patch of made from stash fabric.
- Improvise your quilt back with leftover blocks
The improv quilt back from Modern Quilt Relish
There’s a lovely tutorial on how they approach piecing a quilt back on Modern Quilt Relish. It makes a very interesting back, albeit more time consuming. A design wall helps to lay out options. Need a big design wall? Come to Sew Social, on first and third Thursdays. We’ve got loads of room to spread out and a wall covered in batting, ready for your quilt back improvisation.
As we head into summer, the spring madness of small quilt backs will probably calm down. However, what goes around, comes around! Be sure to keep in mind that a quilt back should be at least 6″ – 10″ longer and wider than your quilt top.