Matching Quilt Front to Backing

[Juliet W.]

I made a quilt top for our sofa and the backing is made up of a center panel of the leftover focus fabric surrounded by plain cloth. Problem (I have had before!) is how to get the front and back together correctly when I am blind with the batting inbetween. I don't want to cut the backing to the exact same size as the top because of shrinkage as I quilt it. Have started to put brain into gear on this one but wondered if anyone has marvellous fool proof tip? Oh and I also only use 505 spray baste but I expect I might have to pin this one somewhere somehow first. :?

[Juliet W.]

I can't say for certain that its fool proof but here is what I do. I also prefer 505. I trim my backing to the quilt top size plus four extra inches on each size with the "center" centered ( does that make sense?). I trim the batting to quilt top size plus four inches all around. Then I use chalk to mark a center vertical line and a center horizontal line on the wrong side of the backing, the wrong side of the quilt top and both sides of the batting. I tape the backing to a large wall, wrong side out and fairly taut. I fold the batting in half along the horizontal line and spray one exposed side with 505. Then, holding the batting with the folded edge up and the sprayed side away from me I approach the backing fabric. Matching the center, I carefully smooth the lower half of the batting to the backing working from the center lines down and out. It helps to have at least two people to control the batting. When I have the lower half adhered with the horizontal and vertical centers matched, I spray the upper half of the batting and being careful to match the vertical center line, smooth it to the backing working upward from the horizontal center line. Are you with me? Next I fold the quilt top in half, wrong side out, along the horizontal center line. Spray the batting with 505. Holding the quilt top with the folded edge up I match up all the center lines again and smooth the lower half of the quilt top to the batting working from the horizontal line downward and out. Then smooth the upper half working from the line upward and out.
I hope all that makes sense. I'll be interested in seeing what other people do! Good luck how ever you decide to do it!

[Margo C.]

Sounds like a good plan to me, Lynn!

[Margo C.]

8) thank you Margo! I'm still curious to see how other people handle this.

[Margo C.]

I now quilt on a long arm, so I need to do it a little differently, but I also mark the centers of the top and backing and batting. I pin the three layers together at the center and baste from the horizontal center down to the bottom of the quilt (on the frame!) then roll back to the horizontal center and baste from the center up to the top. I use Superior's VANISH thread for basting with about 4 SPI, and those stitches just wash out when the quilt is laundered.
It's a little tricky to do, but I've been pretty successful with several quilts by doing it this way.

Here is the BACK of my "From the Heart" quilt:





And the front:

[Juliet W.]

Wow I am impressed, thank you so much. I think I have a bare wall for this and a helper but I am wondering what you use to mark the batting? I can sort of see it dragging and pulling as I try to mark it. I am down in Venezuela with grey chalk pencils, ordinary pencils and a blue washout pen. Thank you so much for the help, I was on to pins but had not gotten close to actually marking it, what a lot of geniuses on the Quilt Show Forum!! Muchas Gracias.

[Margo C.]

Wow I am impressed, thank you so much. I think I have a bare wall for this and a helper but I am wondering what you use to mark the batting? I can sort of see it dragging and pulling as I try to mark it. I am down in Venezuela with grey chalk pencils, ordinary pencils and a blue washout pen. Thank you so much for the help, I was on to pins but had not gotten close to actually marking it, what a lot of geniuses on the Quilt Show Forum!! Muchas Gracias.

Margarita, I carefully folded my batting into fourths and steamed creases along both the vertical and horizontal midpoints. In order to get this batting flat enough to be sure that it was smooth, I steamed the entire batt before I started folding into quarters. Extra work, but necessary for me to get it centered.

[Margo C.]

Margarita, I usually use a triangle of tailors chalk because it is soft enough that if I press a ruler down firmly along the line I want to mark then the chalk leaves a mark without pulling too much. I have also used a colorful strong thread to baste the lines leaving a good length at each end and snipping it at the center so that I could pull each half out after the quilt is sandwiched but it was trickier to remove so i usually just use the chalk. Pressing firmly along the line with the ruler as I mark and using a soft chalk really help.

[Juliet W.]

I wondered about tailors' chalk and I am fairly sure that I will find some in the old fashioned haberdashers we have here. I've got Hobbs Heirloom batting for this 80% cotton and 20% polyester so it should withstand the steam. I just looked at the package and it say "exceptionally resilient" so that ought to hold up to a bit of steam. Bit nervous though as I once put some batting on the roof to de-crease itself, then it rained and I bunged it in the dryer and after just 10 minutes there were a few melty disaster areas. I don't mind ironing the whole thing too much, I put a podcast on and set the ironing board up parallel to the long side of the single bed in the room where I quilt. I start ironing with the long bit down to the floor in front of me and then lift it on to the bed as I go. Now I must thank Margo and SpiritsFold once again and go to bed.

[Juliet W.]

Hi Everyone,
I've been a TQS member since the beginning but I am new to the forum. I thought I'd jump in and offer this for the longarmers. A while back I wrote a tutorial for centering a quilt back on the longarm. Here's the link for anyone who wants it.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...OWZj&hl=en

Vicki Welsh
http://vickiwelsh.com

[Eileen K.]

Hi Vicki,
In the photos, it looks like you're floating your top. Do you do this with all of them or just when you are centering the backing? There's been a discussion of this on another list, so I'm curious.
Thanks for sharing your tutorial; your hand dyes are so very beautiful.

PS-welcome to the forums; I think you'll enjoy the chit chat.

[Eileen K.]

It has to be floated for this technique but I tend to float all of my tops....primarily because I'm lazy!

[Margo C.]

It has to be floated for this technique but I tend to float all of my tops....primarily because I'm lazy!

Hi Vicki!! Glad to have you drop by the forum!! Thanks for the link to your great tute!

[Margo C.]

Welcome to the forum Vicki. Margarita, you know when you use bar hand soap, and it starts to get thin? This is a perfect thing for marking fabric, especially for what this discussion is about, and----it washes out!

[Juliet W.]

What a cool tip! Well yesterday to my immense surprise I went to a haberdasher in a shopping center and they had just received Tailors' Chalk in a box, 4 colours and absolutely no sign on the well made box of where it was made or by whom. I expect that would be illegal in the USA. or England. So I shall test it first. Thank you for the help.