Portland Modern Quilt Guild: January Meeting Recap

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

January Meeting Recap - Presentation

One question we as a Board want to ask ourselves when we're thinking of what to present is, "How does this relate to modern quilting?"

Within the modern quilt movement we've seen growing emphasis and attention directed at making the backs of our quilts more of a design element. This can be challenging especially if you're running behind schedule and need to finish quickly, or don't have a lot of time to dedicate to sewing, or even if by the time you've finished a beautifully pieced top are just done with that particular project.

Kim, our Programs Director, put together this great presentation of quilt backs and we hope it inspires you to try something new on your next quilt!

Traditionally, quilt backs were whole cloths or longer pieces of standard width fabric pieced together, making the quilting the main focus, such as this quilt here:

If you're intimidated by moving away from using one fabric as your backing, start small. Use one fabric as your main backing and add one other fabric to it. Slice the main fabric to make it longer or wider as needed. Two great examples are these backs here:

Try piecing your leftovers together. Make rows of similar sized cuts and then sew the rows together or layout your larger cuts and fill in the holes, such as these quilts:

Picture Courtesy of Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy

Picture Courtesy of Jeni Baker at In Color Order

Often times when piecing the top of our quilts we end up with leftover blocks and what other great use for them than the back! Our next topic is to continue an element from the front. Even if you don't have any extra blocks consider making a couple more specifically for the back!

Picture Courtesy of Kerstin at Sunset Sewing Picture Courtesy of Megan Dye at Monkey Beans

Picture Courtesy of Katriniella on Flickr Picture Courtesy of AraJane on Flickr

Picture Courtesy of Lisa Piinette from Flickr

And then there are the times when you get a wild hair and decide to make two quilt tops. The following pictures are of quilt backs that look like tops, but we swear they're backs!

Picture Courtesy of Kati at From the Blue Chair

Picture Courtesy of Gail at I Think Sew

Picture Courtesy of Elaine at Elaine's Crafty Corner

Picture Courtesy of Dee at Dee's Doodles

Picture Courtesy of BGMom1 on Flickr

Picture Courtesy of Dan Rouse at Piece and Press

Picture Courtesy of Rebecca Powers - Thread For Your Life on Flickr

Lastly HAVE FUN! These photos courtesy of Katie Sciarrino feature quilts that were made for her nieces. Each of the quilt backs have elements of the others' top.