Once you’re done your beautiful quilting project, it’s time to sandwich it and get it quilted. Backing…what to do about backing fabric?
You can of course go several ways. You could buy more 43-44” wide fabric and piece it to make an appropriate sized backing. This is a good option for smaller quilting projects such as wall hangings or small quilts. Here is some great information from Elaine Theriault of Northcott on how to figure out how much fabric you’ll need. Northcott Tip for Backing
Another approach would be to use some of the scraps from your project and put together a pieced back…useful and interesting! Again, Elaine’s tips will come in handy. Remember when piecing a backing, it’s best not to have a centred backing pattern. Just picture you or the longarm quilter trying to make sure the top and the backing are centred together before quilting….ahhh!!!!
Both of these approaches will work for larger quilts as well, although it becomes more complicated when you’re dealing with a bigger project such as a queen sized quilt….and after all, you did just do all that work to make the queen sized top! This is where wide backings are a blessing. Generally, they are 108” wide so you’ll usually have pieces left over…perfect for your next scrappy project! The scraps are also handy for binding and borders for a future project as there may be long strips left.
This is a time where we strongly recommend you wash the backing fabric before cutting it to size as almost all backing fabric will shrink. So when you’re buying your backing fabric, add at least 3-5” extra for shrinkage, AND remember your longarm quilter will need an extra 5-6” so they can more easier set it up on their machine.
A number of fabric lines, such as “Sail Away” and “Tree of Wisdom”, now come with their own matching wide backing fabric, making your decision just that much easier.
You’re just a click away from checking out what we have in stock ….. Wide Backing fabric
Just to clarify, does the wide back fabric shrink more than other quilting cotton fabrics?
Or is the comment about shrinkage/pre washing made based on the fact we have pre washed our quilt top fabrics?
Hi Jo-Anne – yes, wide back fabric does shrink, unlike most quilting cotton fabrics. The manufacturing process for wide back fabric starts with a lesser quality griege good. So in addition to the extra inches you need for the long arm quilter, you also need to purchase enough to allow for shrinkage of at least 4 to 6 inches. Wide backing fabric should always be washed, to make sure this shrinkage occurs before the backing becomes part of your quilt.