It’s time to get my backing sorted. My quilt measures 96” * 112”. Yes, it’s a biggin’.
As you know we need to make it a bit larger for the longarmer. Now the fun begins.
The wide back I bought is only 108” wide which seemed ok but only 98” long. I knew I had to lengthen it by at least 22”. I was also advised to wash it first as sometimes they shrink. I have never washed my fabrics first. A new experience for me. Having to wash, dry and then iron this one fabric. Thanks Judy, it’s washed and ironed. PROBLEM.it shrunk. It now only measures 100” wide so definitely not big enough. Mmmmmmm.
Okay, get out all my scraps from the quilt top and join them together.
But first I have to lay out the backing on the floor. I move my furniture to give me room and my living/ dining room become my workspace. First cut done and a strip sewn in.
2nd cut done.
Oh this was scary.
Next, layout my leftovers on the floor in my hallway/sewing room
I worked out which sections I could sew together and I moved them onto the sewing table
They went back together a little different to what was planned. But I got there.
Here it is big enough for my quilt top.
Not to go and join the batting to get it to fit.
I used the iron on batting joiner but stitched it as well. Sorry no photos of that.
Okay. My back went out doing this and the next day I had trouble walking. It popped back in but took about 5 days for the pain to ease. Please remind me in future that I am not to make a quilt bigger than the width of a wide back or the wadding . I am not joking them to get a bigger size. It wa stop much hard and painful work. Although I will love my quilt when it is finished…
Now to deliver them to Judy for quilting. Thank you 💕
13 comments:
Hmmmm.......sorry you had such an ordeal, but glad you shrunk the backing first....hope the back has recovered now, look forward to catching up soon
Great job on making the backing larger. Hope you are all recovered very soon and your back is ok.
Sure was tricky getting the backing made the right size so you did a great job.
Hope the backs better now.
As I read this I kept thinking "that girl's back is going to go out." glad you are happy with the outcome.
yeah i am done with big quilts as well...that is much bigger than i think i ever made...
I rarely get on the floor anymore for quilts! Even when I was sixty I could do this. At age 77, it is too hard. I gather up my quilt top, the batting, and the backing and let my long arm quilting friend do the rest of the work. I recently took all the cut up fabric for a king sized quilt to an independent high school that was asking for quilting donations. They can put this huge quilt together! I have found that a queen sized quilt works on our king sized bed for a blanket. We have a queen sized quilt on the top right now for decoration with a white huge sham under that reaches to the floor. That is my answer to quilting a king sized blanket in my old age! Happiness does belong to us super old age quilters, too!
Oh my, that was a big job. You were very creative adding those extra pieces to the backing the way you did. So sorry to read about your back problems with all this bending down, not nice at all.
Oh, wow, that was hard work! Glad you got it together in the end, and hope your back is fully recovered.
That is an impressive effort. But well worth it. The backing looks great.
Cutting that on the diagonal to lengthen it would have been rather nerve wracking. I’ve seen the technique, but never tried it. It was a mammoth task, but has turned out so well. Much more interesting than just straight strips. I’m glad your back popped back in.
You made a sensational backing Jo, well done! Hope your back is all recovered now.
Gosh - that was a lot of shrinkage....and a lot of work...nasty when you have to add bits to backings...
I hope you are pain free now...no fun getting old.
What a great back. I would stress doing bias, but you did it like a pro.
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