Wide backing or pieced backing: which one actually costs less?
Photo: Tuti Fruti Cahyadi on Unsplash
There are two ways to back a quilt. You can sew two or three lengths of ordinary quilting cotton together, or buy extra-wide backing fabric, usually sold 108 inches wide, and use it in one piece. Wide backing costs more per yard, so it looks more expensive. Often it isn’t.
The two fabrics
Quilting cotton is sold about 42 to 44 inches wide. After trimming selvages, plan on 42 usable inches. Anything wider than that needs a seam.
Wide backing is sold 106 to 120 inches wide, with 108 the most common. Plan on 106 usable inches. That covers the width of any quilt up to a queen without a seam.
Yardage compared
All figures with 4 inches extra on every side, rounded up to the next ⅛ yard, from the backing calculator:
| Quilt top | 42″ cotton | 108″ wide |
|---|---|---|
| Baby, 36 × 52″ | 2½ yd | 1¼ yd |
| Throw, 60 × 72″ | 3⅞ yd | 2 yd |
| Twin, 70 × 90″ | 5½ yd | 2¼ yd |
| Queen, 90 × 108″ | 8¼ yd | 3¼ yd |
| King, 108 × 108″ | 9¾ yd | 6½ yd (two pieces) |
The wide backing needs well under half the yardage up to a queen. A king is the exception: with 4 inches per side it needs a 116-inch back, which is wider than 108-inch fabric, so even wide backing has to be seamed. Buy 120-inch backing instead (about 3¼ yards), or ask your quilter whether 2 inches per side is enough. That’s the whole story: the price per yard is higher, but you buy far fewer yards.
A price check
Prices vary a lot, so use your own. As an example, say quilting cotton is $13 a yard and wide backing $25 a yard.
- Throw: 3⅞ yd × $13 = $50.38 vs 2 yd × $25 = $50.00. A tie.
- Queen: 8¼ yd × $13 = $107.25 vs 3¼ yd × $25 = $81.25. Wide backing saves $26.
- Baby: 2½ yd × $13 = $32.50 vs 1¼ yd × $25 = $31.25. Close.
The rule of thumb: for small quilts it’s roughly even, and from twin to queen, wide backing usually wins.
Why you might still piece the back
- Choice. Wide backing comes in far fewer prints. If you want the back to match the front, quilting cotton gives you the whole collection.
- Using up stash. A pieced back made from leftover fabric costs nothing.
- Leftovers. The strip trimmed off a two-panel back is often wide enough to cut binding from.
- Shop minimums. Some shops sell wide backing only in half-yard steps.
Tips for a pieced back
Trim the selvages before joining, use a ½-inch seam and press it open so it lies flat. Pick the seam direction that uses less fabric; the calculator shows both, and the difference can be more than a yard. Tell your longarm quilter which way the seam runs. Some prefer it parallel to the rollers.
Tips for wide backing
Wide backing is folded on the bolt, sometimes twice. Press out the fold lines before loading, and check the quilt fits inside the usable width once the selvages are trimmed.