I am that crazy friend who likes to put a pieced design on the backside of the quilt. It’s definitely extra work, and there’s no way to make the quilting stitches line up on both areas, but it uses up some of those scraps and gives you a little surprise when you flip the quilt over.
I talk about the various ways to prepare your quilt backing in this youtube video.
On the Backside
Recently, I made a large star for the back of a quilt. With just one border, it is a great size for a baby quilt.
The star points were made with half square triangles (as described in this post) from 10″ squares. You could easily start with a layer cake for this project!
Here are some fabric suggestions. These are affiliate links to Fat Quarter Shop, so I may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase after clicking.
Making a large star
Lemoyne stars are easy to make with precut 10″ squares! You will need 8 squares for the star points, along with 8 squares of background fabric.
First, cut the all the star fabrics, and four of the background squares in half once on the diagonal. Pair eight star fabrics with eight background triangles for the star points.
Sew the remaining star traingles togeteher to form the center pinwheel HSTs.
If you start with precut 10″ squares, you should trim the HSTs to 9-1/2″ before sewing the pinwheel.
Build the star by adding a background square, and sewing in quadrants. The background squares will need to be trimmed to 9-1/2″ also to match the HSTs.
Add borders to bring your star quilt to the desired size. The star should finish at 36″ square, and a 6″ border will bring it up to 48″ square which is a perfect baby quilt size.
Since I needed a backing, I added three borders to fit the size of my quilt top.
My lonestar quilt, with it’s star on the backside, is loaded on my longarm! Check back next week for the full reveal as part of Island Batik’s Lone Star Blog Hop.
Linky Party
Since it is Thursday, we need to see what you have been working on! Link your blog to the Put Your Foot Down Linky Party. Thanks for being here!
That’s a great idea to piece the backside, I certainly have enough orphan blocks to do that with. Happy stitching!
Wow, that’s a lot of work for a back. I came close to using a whole separate quilt on the back once but I decided against it since I wouldn’t be able to match the quilting. It’s a great idea but since my favourite part is the FMQ, I don’t want to miss an opportunity to quilt a new quilt!