How to make a quilt sandwich

After your quilt top layout is pieced and you’ve added a border (if you choose to) it’s time to plan out your quilt back and make your ‘Quilt Sandwich’. My quilt top is scrappy, and I’m determined to use up ‘stash’ (even the big pieces) so I decided to go with a scrappy back as well.

QUILT BACK

Remember that your backing will always need to be larger than the top (add 6″ to width and length.) If your going to make it scrappy, you need to plan where your seams fall. You don’t want them close to the edges of the final quilt. The excess backing that extends beyond the quilt top is cut away after quilting so your seams will need to be well inside the ‘quilt top’ parameters.

QUILT SANDWICH Supplies:

quilt top

backing

batting ~ I’m using warm and natural cotton batting (love cotton!)

painters tape ~ if your pin basting on a surface or floor

quilting pins ~ the bent ones

Your ‘Quilt Sandwich’ consists of three parts:

QUILT TOP

BATTING ~ I want my batting to extend 2″ all the way around my quilt so I will add 4″ to the length and width of the quilt top.

BACKING ~ I want my backing to be just slightly larger than my batting. I want it to extend 1″ beyond my batting. To accomplish this I will add 2 inches to my batting length and width.

Why do you need to extend the batting and backing? During quilting there can be some shifting of the layers. Extending the batting and backing will ensure this isn’t a problem, your quilt back will be large enough and you’re not quilting tiny bits lined up at the edge. Some quilters are more generous with their extended measurements, so do what suits you and your quilting needs. If you are sending your quilt to a longarmer they may have specific requirements so be sure to check in advance.

Making a Quilt Sandwich

(I’m cheating and using a quilt block for my demo so it’s easier to photograph!)

Lay out your batting on a large surface or the floor. Layer your quilt top over the batting so batting extends at least two inches around. Trim batting to size.

Roll up batting and quilt top together and set aside while you lay out backing. Press quilt back and smooth out on floor/surface with right side down. Using painters tape (girls best friend) generously tape backing to surface. Move your quilt top / batting ‘roll’ on top of quilt back. Center, unroll and smooth out batting / quilt top. This is your quilt sandwich. Now, pin the heck out of it! Be sure to put a few pins the batting area that isn’t covered by the quilt top. Also be sure to fill the pins up. If they are not ‘full’ they will slide and all that work will be for nothing! (boo)