written by marieann

Yay! This baby is done! It’s so warm and geeky. It was pretty hard to sew in my tiny apartment, I was doing some acrobatics to lay this all out. I have already done a tutorial on how to sew a single quilt block, here. This post shows you an alternative way to do the quilt backing. I think this way is both easier and cooler than using bias tape.

Note: these instructions are based on a 4.5 inch final border added. If you would like to change the size of the border, you can.

Supplies
Quilt top
Batting
Fabric backing material

Tools
Iron
Sewing machine
Pins
Marking chalk
Ruler
Fabric marker

Use this hand drawn instructions ALONG with the written ones. Be sure to click to view the largest version.

Instructions
1. If your quilt is an adult-sized quilt then you will need to sew two lengths of your backing fabric together to create the desired width.

2. Lay the fabric backing on the floor WRONG side facing up.

3. Use your ruler and draw a line with the chalking pencil FIVE inches in from the edge on the top and right sides of the fabric.

4. Line up the batting at that line you just drew.

5. Using a ruler, draw a line 4.5 inches in from the edge of the batting with the fabric marker on the top and right edges.

6. Next, stack the pieced quilt top on top of the batting RIGHT side facing up inside the square that you just drew in step five on the batting.

Remember: right now you’re only working with the top and right edges.

7. Pin the three layers together half an inch from the edge of the quilt top.

8. Cut the batting five inches bigger than the quilt topping on the bottom/left.

9. Cut the fabric batting five inches bigger than the batting on the bottom/left.

10. Fold the backing layer over so that the fabric’s right side is showing on the front (that’s your border!). Press that down. At this point, your backing fabric should be filled with batting in the border and should overlap the quilt top by 1/2 an inch.

11. Fold under the backing 1/4 an inch and pin down to the quilt top. There should be no raw edges anywhere showing. Leave about three inches from each corner unpinned.

12. Using a zig zag stitch (I chose a contrasting thread color, you could make it blend in tho if you’d like), sew the fabric backing thru all layers (at this point there are four because you are sewing thru the backing twice).

13. When you’ve sewn all four sides, it’s time for the corners. Just fold it and make a pretty tight corner so that it’s a 45 degree angle. Zig zag stitch again.

14. And you’re done!