{"title":"How to Make a Quilt Backing","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/quilting/how-to-make-a-quilt-backing","category":{"slug":"quilting","name":"Quilting"},"creator":{"name":"Fat Quarter Shop","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC545XVmRhNmi3UBJ7RYid9g","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P5Y5BXAGnE"},"tldr":"Make a quilt backing from two lengths of fabric. How big to cut it, how much to buy, sewing the half inch seam and pressing for a longarm.","totalDurationSeconds":1049,"videoDurationSeconds":1049,"difficulty":"easy","project":{"difficulty":"easy","projectMinutes":45,"waitMinutes":null,"totalMinutes":45,"estimatedCost":{"currency":"USD","min":30,"max":50},"yield":"1 quilt backing"},"tools":["rotary cutter","cutting mat","long quilting ruler","sewing machine","open toe presser foot","iron","pins"],"materials":["quilting cotton backing fabric","cotton thread","washi tape"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Cut Two Quilt Backing Lengths From the Yardage","text":"Work out the backing size first: the quilt plus about 5 inches on every side. For a 50 1/2 inch quilt that is 60 1/2 inches. Open your backing fabric as it came off the bolt, keep it lined up on the fold, and cut it into two lengths of 60 1/2 inches each. The cut can be a bit crooked. It gets trimmed later."},{"number":2,"title":"Press the Quilt Backing Fabric Along the Selvages","text":"Stack the two lengths with the selvages together at the top. Do not unfold and iron everything yet. Kimberly gives the stack a gentle press along the selvage end only, enough to take out the worst wrinkles. Keeping the fabric the way it came off the bolt keeps the edges lined up, so the long seam goes together straight."},{"number":3,"title":"Line Up the Quilt Backing Pieces Selvage to Selvage","text":"Lay the two pieces right sides together, selvage to selvage, and smooth them flat on your cutting mat. With a solid, either side can face in, but with a print the right sides must face each other. Keep every fold and edge in line. When you pick this up later, it is ready to sew because nothing has shifted."},{"number":4,"title":"Trim the Quilt Backing Edge Straight With a Ruler","text":"Lay a long quilting ruler along the edge you will sew, lining it up with the fold and a line on the mat. Cut straight through all the layers with a rotary cutter. This trims away the selvage and gives both pieces one clean, matching edge to seam together. Hold the ruler firmly so it does not creep while you cut."},{"number":5,"title":"Pin the Two Quilt Backing Layers Together","text":"Pin along the trimmed edge, two layers at a time, before you go to the sewing machine. Everything stays in order and nothing slides on the long seam. Place a pin every few inches, at a right angle to the edge so you can pull them out as you sew. A magnetic pin dish beside you keeps them from ending up on the floor."},{"number":6,"title":"Mark a Half Inch Seam Guide for the Quilt Backing","text":"Put the needle in the down position and fit an open toe foot. Set a ruler on the needle plate with the half inch line on the needle. Lay a strip of tape on the machine bed along the ruler's edge. That tape is your guide for the whole seam. It does not have to be exact, because it is the back, but it does need to be straight."},{"number":7,"title":"Sew the Quilt Backing Seam on the Machine","text":"Feed the pinned edge under the foot and keep the fabric edge running along the tape guide. Kimberly uses a 2.0 stitch length. Let the machine pull the fabric and support the weight of the backing so it does not drag the seam off course. Take the pins out as you reach them. That one seam joins the backing."},{"number":8,"title":"Iron the Pieced Quilt Backing to Set the Seam","text":"Take the backing to the ironing board and press the seam flat as sewn to set the stitches. Now do the full press, both sides, getting every wrinkle out. Kimberly saves all her ironing for this point, because the fabric has stayed in order. Longarm quilters say unironed backings are one of the most common problems they see."},{"number":9,"title":"Press the Quilt Backing Seam Open","text":"Press the seam to one side first, pulling gently so there is no tuck along the stitching. Then flip the backing over and press the seam open, finger pressing ahead of the iron as you go. Use steam. Keep the fabric flat before each pass, or you will press a crease into the other side."},{"number":10,"title":"Trim the Quilt Backing to Size for the Longarm","text":"Two widths of fabric make the backing about 84 inches wide, much more than this quilt needs. Fold it in half and trim it down to about 30 1/4 inches from the fold, so it opens to roughly 60 1/2 inches square. The cut does not need to be straight. Save the leftover strip for another quilt, then fold the backing neatly."}],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-10-11T18:04:36.960Z","published":"2026-10-11T17:24:22.301Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit Show Me Step by Step with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure. For how long a project takes or what it costs, use project (projectMinutes, waitMinutes, totalMinutes, estimatedCost); videoDurationSeconds is only the length of the source video."}