I was looking at the latest copy of 'Quiltmaker' - one of my all time favourite magazines - when my eye strayed to the Basic Lessons page. I'm not foolish enough to think there would be nothing there forme to learn, when I came to the bit about Backing and Basting.
In case you can't read it, it says 'Make the quilt backing 4-8" larger than the top.' This is pretty standard information for layering up. But really - four to eight inches! That's a lot of excess! The received wisdom is that the fabric will pull up when it's quilted. Well, yes, that's true, but surely the back and the top will pull up roughly the same amount?
I'm not really suggesting you cut the backing the same size as the top (as I have foolishly done here!)
Just leave an inch or so, to prevent having to add to the backing if you've not centred the top quite right. Any thoughts?
3 comments:
I send my quilts away to be quilted and my longarm quilter asks for 6" extra on all four sides.
If I am quilting myself I leave a couple of inches.
Honestly I have to leave myself about 3 inches either side. Not sure why but otherwise I end up with a short corner occasionally.:)
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