How to Make a Scrappy Quilt Backing

Have you ever kept leftover bits fabric to make a Scrappy Quilt Backing?

No? 

You should!

Well, I suppose if you send your quilts out for longarm service you should probably check with your long-armer first.

But, if you baste and quilt yourself and haven’t saved your backing scraps, now is the time to start!

Now, I make nearly all of my quilts with flannel backings.  That’s another thing you should start doing, stat.  But, for the purposes of this tutorial, either flannel or quilting cotton, or whatever you usually use as backing and collect scraps of will work.

Why do I use mostly flannel for my quilts? 

It’s so soft and snuggly!  I make couch throw size quilts or baby quilts, both of which need an intense snuggle factor.  If I make a bed size quilt, I definitely do NOT use flannel!

But also, the texture of flannel is great for creating fun texture around the quilting.  Take this star quilt for example.

Quilting around the edge of the stars made for a fun design on the back.

Here is another star quilt, this time a baby-size quilt.

And, again, fun star designs on the backing.

How to Make a Scrappy Quilt Backing

The first step in making a scrappy quilt backing is to save your scraps, and then pull together fabrics that work with your quilt top.

Colors for Backings

The scrappy backing used in this tutorial is on the back of a Halloween Quilt.  I tried really hard to use some orange polka dot fabric that I had.

But, I didn’t quite like it with the black plaid.

And, I also didn’t quite like it with the gray dots.

So I settled on the blacks and grays WITHOUT the orange.

Sizing the Backing

While I had a large piece of the black plaid fabric, it wasn’t quite wide enough to work with the quilt top, so I used the second piece to make it wide enough.

Don’t worry about that tail hanging off at the top, I trimmed it off.

Always make sure to cut the selvage off, especially when working with flannel.  It washes and shrinks differently than the rest of the flannel back.

Pin every few inches when sewing two pieces of fabric together.  This is good advice for all quilting, but especially important when working with stretchy fabrics like flannel.

When working with flannel I use more than a ¼” seam allowance.  I sew flannel at least at 3/8” and sometimes closer to ½”.  Actually, I do this with non-flannel quilt backings too.  I guess I think it makes the back stronger.

Now the black plaid fabric is wide enough to work with the quilt top.

However, it’s still not long enough, and since this is going to be a scrappy quilt backing, I prefer to have two smaller strips of black plaid instead of one large strip.

So, I cut the black plaid in half.  And, because I have *just a little bit* of OCD, I flipped one of the two strips so that the seam from sewing the skinny strip to the side would be on alternate sides of the quilt.

Then, lay out the other fabric strips that will be used to get the quilt back up to it’s full size.  Don’t worry, those gray fabrics aren’t too skinny; they are all just folded in half.

Sew the five rows together, and you’ve got yourself a scrappy quilt backing!

Then, baste, quilt and bind as desired.

Now, that’s just one version of a scrappy quilt backing.  Since we’re working with scraps, the sky is the limit on different combinations of how to put the scraps together.

Variations to Making a Scrappy Quilt Backing

This next quilt is super scrappy on both the front and the back.  The Scrappy Triangles Quilt Tutorial is one of my most popular posts.  I’m even working on a new version of this in blues, oranges and spring greens, with a bit of a twist.

The back was made in a similar way to the above tutorial, but with skinnier strips of flannel; and therefore, more strips of flannel.

This graphic shows how to alternate each seam so help the whole quilt lie flat.

Quilts with scrappy backings need more quilting, with less space in-between lines of quilting.  Each seam in the quilt (top or back) makes it a little more fragile.  Each line of quilting makes it a little more durable.  With practice, you can find a balance between just the right amount of scrap and quilting.

Horizontal seams are not the only way to make scrappy quilt backings.   You can also give vertical seams a try! 

This is particularly useful when the piece of fabric is long enough for the quilt top, but not quite wide enough.  One long skinny strip leftover from a previous project can give the backing the additional width needed.

The top of this quilt is blue, orange and gray 4-patches and is available both as a tutorial AND as a baby quilt for sale.

The next scrappy quilt backing is sort of a combination of the previous two.   A long strip to add width to the back, but this time made of many horizontal fabrics.

Sew the horizontal strips together first, straighten the edges, and then sew in-between the two outer pieces.

This backing was for a flying geese quilt.

The first version of the Double Stars Quilt has a backing made in just the same way!  While the quilt is sold out, the Double Stars Quilt Pattern is still available.

This scrappy quilt backing looks like it has floating squares and rectangles. 

It is made in the same way as the last two scrappy backings, the illusion comes from using little bits of the main fabric in between the greens.

And, quite possibly the best way to make a scrappy backing – use those leftover blocks from the quilt top!

Just remember, no matter what style of scrappy quilt backing you make, make sure your backing is wider than your quilt top!  Do you see the little patch I had to pull together?

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