So yesterday I was trying to find a suitable backing for a recent quilt.
I picked this 1974 Urban Chicks fabric from my stash.
I needed 4 yards or 70"x70".
Surely I bought a 4 yard piece of this fabric...
Nope.
it's 3 1/4 yards.
I tried to figure out mathematically how I could get the piece I needed
BUT it just wasn't enough....
I whined and groaned and searched my fabric stash....
I gave up on that and found another stash piece of 1974 Urban Chicks in Red
sure enough I did have 4 yards.
In hind sight...
I wish I had bought 4 yards of the light fabric or any fabric for that matter.
I found that every piece I had that 'might' be enough...wasn't enough.
I have a lot of stash but not a lot of backing sized stash.
I thought about piecing the backing but my machine quilter isn't fond of that
(yeah it's sometimes frustrating but he's a convenient so I take that inconvenience)
I think the next time I find a 'deal' or sale yardage I am buying 4-6 yard pieces for backings.
Ever been in this situation?
12 comments:
That has happened to me too.
Oh grrrrr!!! I know exactly what you are talking about.
This happens more than I'd like! I think we have to make it a rule - get at least 4 yards. I hate having to scramble to find more fabric, which I've done too many times this past year!
How can he not be a fan of pieced backing? Many quilts are larger than 45" wide or long and therefore the backing MUST be pieced in order to cover the whole thing. Not to mention the overage for the rollers..
My machine quilter is awesome and never groans about anything. She even takes special care to line up my pieced backings so that the pieced sections are exactly where I want them.
For what it's worth, I really like the red fabric better. The stripes are so bold!
Its Murphy's Law of quilting. :)Never fails. I have a problem with making big quilts so you're looking at 7-9 yards. Thus, the trend of piecing your backs, which I may have to succumb to at some point. I have seen beautiful pieced backs, but I'm usually impatient to finsh the quilt once the top is pieced.
I almost always have to piece my backs, and I don't even make large quilts! It just hurts too much to buy yardage, so I put it off, and then have regrets.
Oh, yes! That has happened a few times and its frustrating. Buying fabric for backings isn't at the top of my list, although maybe it should be. But, I'm trying not to collect too much stash.
There is a way to make it work. If you take the fabric end to end and fold it in half, then cut it. so you have two equal lengths. Then you sew them together selvage to selvage or side by side, then you cut that piece on the diagonal from corner to corner, and then slide one piece down that cut so the piece gets wider, eventually it will be the width you need. You just need to play with it FIRST, to see if you need to stitch the selvage to selvage together EVENLY or off ( one side higher than the other) so when you slide it, to make it wider, the height is still the size you need too. I hope this makes sense.
I LOVE pieced backs and even when I have a large piece of fabric, I always insert a pieced strip of the fabric used on the front to add interest to the back. Plus I put my label in the inserted stripe. My long arm quilter has NEVER complained about a pieced back. Sometimes the backs of my quilts are almost as interesting as the front :)
With fabric only being 44/45 inches wide, I almost always have to piece my back for anything larger than a small doll quilt. The trend now days is to piece your back and even add more quilt blocks into it. I think your machine quilter needs some education in this area. :-)
I have 1 charm pack, jelly roll and 1 yrd of 1974. I haven't done anything with it yet. I probably should, huh?
I've discovered the same thing! So, when I find a REALLY good buy of sale fabric, I buy about 4 yards also!
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