Back Porch

Who’s really going to see it?

For instance, if it’s on your bed, who is the one crawling under it? You. Shouldn’t you be able to see the back and smile?

When I first started out, the backs of my quilts were either muslin—why? Because it was easy to hand quilt through and helped make my stitches very tiny since it’s so thin—or the back was just one print of something fun that would go with the name of the quilt.

If it was a Christmas quilt, perhaps I’d use a print with a Christmas theme. I also really liked small calico prints on the backs of my quilts to go with all the plaids on the front, and many have just that.

Is there anything wrong with any of those ideas? Not at all.

When piecing the back made sense

But then I found that by piecing the back, I didn’t have to worry about finding enough of one particular fabric for the entire quilt.

Have you ever gone to the store to get the perfect fabric, only to find there isn’t enough on the bolt? Seven to ten yards is a lot of fabric for a large quilt. I say, YEAH! It makes you think outside the box.

Gramma wouldn’t have had enough of one particular fabric. My Gramma used sugar sacks, cotton feed sacks, or whatever she could find. Some of those items also made bloomers for all the girls. Mom says she had “red rose” printed across her bottom many times from those sacks.

Old things, new quilts

An antique friend of mine found an old feed sack coverlet and thought of me. It was just like it sounds—several cotton feed sacks sewn together. Some of the lettering was still there and almost threadbare. There are even a couple of interesting holes that I just left.

When I put this on the back of Wild Things, I placed all the seams so they show on the outside. When you see this quilt at your local shop in a trunk show, ask them to show you the back. It’s very different and a lot of fun.

Little surprises on the back

I once made a quilt where the entire front was a big pieced star. I love that quilt. On the back, I pieced several of the colors from the front and then thought, well, why not put a row of appliquéd flowers on the back?

No one sees that but me, and I consider it my privilege to show that to others if I choose to do so.

When I made A Tisket A Tasket, I had some flowers left over that I didn’t use on the front… yep, they’re on the back.

Did you ever find Barnabus?

By the way, did you ever find Barnabus on the cover of your pattern? Hmmm… perhaps you should look on the back of the quilt.

Making the back worth looking at

My Prairie Christmas Star is a 30-block quilt, and trust me when I say I was really over that one. I’m so glad I made all 30 blocks, but it made the quilt quite large. To fit my bed downstairs, I could roll the top down.

So if it was going to be rolled down, it needed something fun on the back. I made large sawteeth on just that side. It makes me smile when I look at it.

Big blocks and checkerboards

Many of my quilts have giant blocks sewn together on the back, making what looks like a checkerboard. One Ringy Dingy and Jeepers Creepers are two that have that on the back. I think the four-block quilt Stars on a Tin Roof does too.

The Bundling Board has stars on the front, so why not just have a large one appliquéd in the center of a pieced back?

One last thought

Be creative. Have fun. And trust me when I say, the next time someone sees your quilt and tells you how lovely it is, they’ll also squeal that the back is just as charming.

Happy Quilting,
Lynda Hall
Primitive Pieces by Lynda