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How To Make a Pieced Back for your Quilt

Pieced quilt backs - how to do it well.

A pieced backing can really make your quilt sing! It’s a great way to use up fabric from your stash, or enhance the design by incorporating fabrics from your quilt top into the back. It can be a lifesaver if you’ve invested in a wideback that’s too small.

A quilt back that’s well constructed is a joy to longarm. The backing, along with with a flat, pressed, carefully pieced top, is the foundation for finishing your quilt to perfection.

Your quilter can’t do a good job from a wonky starting point! Just “stretching everything tight” (even though it sounds effective) won’t give the best possible result.

The basics that make a great pieced back are squareness, flatness, minimal bulk in the seams, and good pressing. Here’s how to achieve that.

1 - Audition your fabrics for fit and look

Lay out your fabrics on a design wall or floor to get an idea of placement with what you have. Keep auditioning layouts until you have a composition you’re happy with.

Each back is like a unique individual. How it looks will depend on the size of your pieces of stash fabric.

Stand back and view your layout, visualise your construction steps. Which pieces will you sew together first?

In this quilt I did left and right columns, then joined them to each otherwith one long centre seam. I deliberately staggered/offset the horizontal seams.

Use a longer than usual stitch. If 2.0 is usual for you, make it about 2.5 or even close to 3.0. This helps keep the long seams from puckering.

Feel free to back tack on outer edges.

2 - Don't cut your fabric - rip it!

Ripping really is the best way to get a straight edge. Just pull off the 2 or 3 stray threads from the (ripped) edge after ripping, preventing fraying.

Give that edge a quick press. Good as new and super straight! It’s so much easier than trying to cut a super long straight edge.

If, in your layout, a selvage forms a seam, rip it off before sewing. It can pucker your quilt after washing.

If your selvage will be on an outer edge, leave it on. Some longarmers like to pin to it. 😉

3 - Sewing Seams… backing seams are different from quilt piecing seams.

Put your two ripped pieces that you’ve auditioned right sides together, secure, and stitch the whole seamline.

Sewing with a wide seam allowance on a quilt back helps spread out bulk.

Make your seam allowances BIG! About 1.5 cm is ideal. That’s 0.590551” in quilters measurements.

¾” would be better than a scant ½” seam allowance. Ripping makes the edges a little “furry” so extra is better.

Use a longer than usual stitch. If 2.0 is usual for you, make it about 2.5 or even close to 3.0. This helps keep the long seams from puckering.

Feel free to back tack on outer edges. It’s important that the width of your finished seam allowance is EVEN along the whole seam; pin the edges together and use a seam guide. I often stick a piece of painters tape on my needle plate to use as a guide.

4 - Press these big seams OPEN! (Set your seam first.)

This keeps the bulk to a minimum. Try using a spritz of water on seams then hold the iron on the open seam (not rubbing it around) for a couple of seconds. They’ll come out nice and crisp.

(I love my spray bottle.)

Pless your seams open as you go.

5 - Squaring up…. Again, rip it.

Let’s say you’ve sewn together two pieces of fabric and one overhangs. With fabrics right sides together, cut with your scissors through the seam and rip both at the same time from that cut.

You need a couple of centimetres on your shortest side to get a clean rip on both pieces. Then press the furry edge to make it pretty. You can go back and backtack seams that land on the outer edge of the backing.

Rip the edges all around the outside of the quilt. Remember that to rip joined pieces, you must cut through both layers at the seam and rip from there to the edges.

Well done! You’ve just made a unique pieced backing!

Extra Tips for Pieced Quilt Backs

Your backing needs to be 8” bigger than your top, so 4” on each/all sides. With all that ripping and squaring, give yourself PLENTY of overage at the start. You’ll probably lose several inches along the way.

Straight of grain – If possible, keep all your grains running in the same direction. Conflicting grains will make your backing baggy in unpredictable places. Sometimes conflicting grains can’t be avoided. Pinning your seams carefully on a flat surface without easing or stretching prevents this.

Longarmers pin to selvages whenever possible, so leave the ones on the outer edge of your backing on. This helps keep your quilt square.

Design factors… add a strip that compliments the front of your quilt into the backing. Remember the rule of thirds and offset the strip so it’s not dead centre, but segmenting the back by about 1/3.

Now that you’ve taken all this effort to make a great pieced backing, take a photo of your fab work and congratulate yourself on a job well done. Your quilt will thank you for it (so will your longarmer!).

Thank you for hanging out here long enough to read this! I’d love you hear your experiences with these techniques!

Please flick me an email about it, or share you wins on socialwith me @quiltingoctopus on Instagram.

The quilt used in this example is called “Plus Quilt” from For the Love of George.

The pantograph design is called “Box Tie” from Longarm League.