Question about piecing the back

bkay2000

6 years ago

That quilt top I've been struggling with all the 30's fabric is finally done. I ended up going back to the LQS and getting a different piece of red for the border. It works, but is didn't meet my expectations. I finally figured out that it's not bright, but rather subdued. It's just a mistake made by someone without enough experience.

Now, I have all those piano keys I tried to use as a border. I decided to use them on the back. The approximate length is somewhere in the 300" range. I decided to just come in from the edge about 12" and insert a rectangle of piano keys. But that only uses about 1/2 of the piano keys. If I come in another 12" and insert another rectangle of piano keys, am I getting too complicated?

By "getting too complicated", I mean too hard to do or hard to keep it square and get it centered on the quilt back.

I would edge the piano keys in about an inch of red left over from the front border. I would start with a white rectangle, edge it in the piano keys, put another white border, edge it in piano keys, and finish with white. I am going to bind it in the red from the front border.

I have all this left over stuff and it seemed like a good use and not too hard. But since I haven't done anything remotely related to this, I could be wrong.

Bkay

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Comments (8)

User
6 years ago
Bkay - I just went through the same thing with the backing of this quilt that I'm finally quilting. I made it too complicated. So since you have all those piano keys, would it be possible to just make one row the full length and one the full width and cross them in the center - then add yardage in the 4 quarters from your stash? It wouldn't have to all match since you have all those fabrics in the piano keys plus it is after all the backing.
msmeow
6 years ago
Or use two or three strips of the piano keys the full length of the back with yardage in between.

Or save them for the border on another quilt. :)

Donna
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nannykins
6 years ago
There is a newish youtuber Karen Brown, who uses the title, .Just Get Er done Quilts.

I don't know how to copy the address but she has been doing videos about backs of quilts. She calls them After Quilts. I just watched one this morning. Lots of good ideas.

Theresa
jackier123
6 years ago
I would not worry about being even or making sure everything is equal on both sides of the back. I would probably come in about 10 inches put a column of piano keys, then come in another say 6 inches and put another column of keys and then 8 inches and more keys...in other words, just dont worry about evenness. Go random. It makes for an interesting back.
toolgranny
6 years ago
I wouldn't do all that work. No one sees the back. I'd save them for another project.
bkay2000
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks Theresa, I've seen some of Karen Brown's videos, but not the after quilt ones. It's a great idea, but I don't think using up my scraps is worth spending three days making a quilt back.

I think I am just going to go with the strips down or the back. I don't want to get it so complicated that it's like making another quilt. It's just a throw size, so I'm quilting it myself and will not have to be concerned with problems longarmers have with vertical seams.

Thanks for you input, everyone.

bkay
bev2009
6 years ago
I generally piece the back so nothing is centered, that way you don't have to worry about it looking "off" if it isn't quite centered. Show us what you ended up doing.
Karen S. (7b, NYC)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Each of my last 2 bed sized quilts have backs w/ a pieced section down the center, one 11" wide, the other 13" wide; both cases fabrics were some scraps from the front & other fabrics I found related to them from my stash.

Other people may not see the backs, but I do & I love playing w/ the fabrics to make them. At Quilt Shows, I always volunteer to be a white glove lady so I can show (& see) all the backs!

ETA: I discovered Karen Brown's YouTube tutes a few months ago & she's great. If you haven't seen her, she's direct, to the point, hugely creative & deeply knowledgeable including on color theory; she's really exceptional.