I ordered 5 yds as that was the amount listed in the fabric requirements....hopefully will be enough to back this quilt. If not, I think there will be some fabric left over from the top to piece in.

suehenyon wrote:

Sadly, I bought 6 yards of backing fabric at Paducah this spring, and it wasn't enough! There was only 40 inches of printed fabric between the selvages after prewashing, and an 80 inch width of fabric is not wide enough to back a 79 inch quilt top! I ended up with a 10 inch wide piece of orange fabric pieced into the back. Really a happy accident, since I rather like the way it looks now!

Using my Robert Kaufmann quilting app, I figured 5 yards should do it for the backing. If it's not enough, I'll piece in some more from my stash. It depends of how the width of the fabric measures after washing, and how much overhang is needed.

This is a great app, free!

The finished size of the quilt is 79" x 79". The size of your backing will depend on how it will be quilted.

I can't help you with a hand quilted project, but I like to leave a couple of inches extra on all four sides if I'm quilting it on my domestic sewing machine.

If I am quilting it on my long-arm, I like to have 6"-8" extra on all four sides to accommodate the leaders and clamps.
I always trim off that extra fabric to be used for bindings, either on that project or another one, so it's not really wasted!

Do you know how much fabric will be needed for the backing?

In case you aren't getting the TQS Newsletter, I wanted to make sure that you are aware that the TQS Shoppe has BOM fabric available at a great price if you need any extra to finish your quilt. This is also a great place to get the perfect backing for your BOM!!

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