Quilt Class 101 - Week 8 - Backings

So, if your on schedule, you would have your Quilt top finished!! Hooray!! ..

and ready to make a back for your quilt. If your newly following along... you can read all the previous steps/classes HERE.. Quilt Class for this week....

Backings

Sourced from Flickr Group - Quilt Backs

1. Pinwheels on Parade ~ Quilt back, 2. Edi's quilt - back, 3. Oh, Brother!, 4. Off-Centered Back, 5. Baby quilt, 6. Vive Le Rouge Deux - the back, 7. A Legion of Dots quilt - back, 8. Back, 9. IMG_3114, 10. IMG_3943, 11. CIMG7582, 12. Back of Off the Rail #2

I think backings have come a long way over the last couple years... When i made my first few quilts... you kind of just put anything on the back. No one really took much consideration.. They would say 'Oh, Its just the back!!".... But now... The back is just as important as the front! You can have a whole piece of fabric, or you can have a pieced back. For me, I think it depends on the quilt whether I piece the back or use the one fabric.

How to decide??

Look at your Design... Do you think a pieced back would add to or take away from the front?? I really like the back to tie into the front and not just be a random piece of fabric.
The next thing I do is I measure.  Depending on the measurements of the Quilt, I decide if a pieced back would work.   Lay your quilt top down... Measure the length and the width.  When i measure my quilt top, if it is close to 44" in width then i usually piece it. This will help you decide whether you need to add width to your quilt top?? Or do you need to add length??

Do you have enough scraps? Do you have something from your stash you could use?? Did you buy yardage when you bought fabric for the Quilt top? Piecing can save you money in buying yards and yards of fabric

OK, so For the QC Quilt, It measures 50" across and 58" in length...

So our options for this Quilt could be to use one piece of fabric? If this is what you decide to do... How much do you need?? There is a formula I always use....
1) Formula  Measure the width, times it by 2. Add 6 inches( a little extra to allow for basting and quilting)... And that is how much fabric you will need. So, for the QC Quilt... It's 50" (width)  x2 = 100" + 6"(extra) = 106" = 3 yards of fabric...
2) Sometimes you can buy backing fabric that is extra wide so you dont need to buy double width. This can save you money.
3) Pieced Back... Knowing my Quilt is 50" x 58"... Its close to 44"... Im going to do a pieced back. I had 68 inches (170cm) of fabric. You need 64". Its only 44 inches wide, so its long enough to cover the quilt length, but not wide enough to cover.

So I chose this design for the back of the quilt.

This will give me an extra 12 Inches in width.. making the backing piece 56" wide. It will now be wide enough to cover the width of the quilt with those few extra inches on the side that make life so much easier for next steps in completing your Quilt.

If your following along and want to make a pieced back the same as mine...., Take your black and white fabric and cut sixteen black, 5" x 5" squares, and sixteen White.

Sew these squares together like we did in Class 5 to make 32 HST (half Square triangles).

Cut 3 strips of white fabric, 2 1/2" wide selvage to selvage. Take one of these strips and cut in half. Join the two cut pieces to the remaining two strips to make 2 long strips measuring 64" each.
Once you have sewn your zigzag together....
Lay out all your pieces...

Following the picture above,  Sew the two long white strips on either side of your zigzag.
Before you sew this onto your main fabric...You need to cut your strip for the other side...
I fold my fabric in half and then half again...
Trim off your selvage.

Flip it over so you can measure and cut a strip 11" wide. If your fabric is like mine and its directional... Keep that in mind when your cutting.

Lay out your pieces...

Sew these together....

And your DONE!!

Your pieced back is ready for your next class..... Basting!!

It can be a little tricky trying to decide how to piece your back.... You can find tons of Inspiration of .Flickr I even found a Flickr group called Quilt Backs full of pictures of the back of Quilts... Its fun to browse through Flickr for inspiration. You are all so so clever!!

Welcome to all of you who are new to following along with Quilt Class 101... You can find all the previous classes HERE. Also, if you have a tutorial on your blog related to one of our classes.. You can still link up with each class HERE.

Mr Linky for this Week..... Show us your backs!!

I would love for you to share some of your Quilt Backs with us....??? Link up below!! It doesnt have to be a new post.. You might want to link to an old post that shows a picture of the back of your quilt. If you have done a few pieced Quilt backs.. You might want to link up a new post full of pictures of all your pieced backs for us to look at!