When I spoke to the Amoskeag Quilter's Guild in February, one of the members was looking at the back of one of my quilts.
"You like busy backs," she said.
"No," I replied, "I think the backs are so big they need a fabric with a big scale to carry it off. I think a tiny all over print looks plain and boring." We all know how much I like plain and boring (NOT!)
All the backings of my quilts are chosen with the front in mind. They all coordinate. Like Chris said, when she saw the backing I had prepared for my sampler quilt, Letters From Home, "I like that you didn't drop the ball on the back."
So I work hard not to "drop the ball" on the backing. I never, ever, pick something just because it's in my stash and I have a lot of it.
PS, Marei, the chairs may look red, but they are actually cherry wood, varnished but unpainted.
8 comments:
I have a different view altogether Lynne. I love using up bits and pieces from stash on the back. I'd rather spend money on wonderful fabrics for the front, not the back.
Megan
Sydney, Australia
And I have a third approach: I always choose the plainest fabric I can find that matches or coordinates with the main color of the front, so that if the quilt is flipped over, the front has no competition from the back. I tend to use either very intense colors or very soft ones, and I choose the backing fabric accordingly.
There are many ways of approaching color, but I wouldn't choose to piece the back as a practical matter - I'd never get it on straight when the quilt was assembled. :)
I love that fabric. I'd be betting it would make a cool one block wonder, too. It's perfect for this quilt.
I like making pieced backs and Charlotte, it isn't all that hard to get it straight. Admittedly, I don't make large quilts but, so far, so good. :D
One word, gorgeous!
Love, love, love that backing fabric. If I still sewed my own clothes that would be a prime candidate for a dress or top. Love colors.
I guess I'm the rare bird in the herd. I don't tend to think all that much about the back...saving any obsessing that needs done for the front.
And that said, I don't tend to obsess much about the fronts either. I just let the quilt tell me which way it wants to go...
Oh, and Lynne, for the record...those giant Iris' make me feel that spring will come. God, I need some spring.
I think we all make the best decisions we can, and it's not realistic to expect everyone to think as we do. I had a plain navy Kona border on a beautiful but intense quilt destined for a fine artist child and ended up having to take the border off because he felt that it detracted from the composition. I would've thought there's not much plainer than Kona. But it was actually the right thing to do.
You wanted something 'summery' for the backing and I think you nailed it. That's a very cool iris print. And thanks for the info on the chairs...that cherry wood is stunning.
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