WWQP Bulletin Board

Monday, July 30, 2007

Help please with backing


I am horribly math challenged and hope some one of you will be able to help me figure out what size/shapes I need to finish the back of my disappearing 9 patch. I didn't want to do a plain backing, and decided to "blow up" one 9 patch block, cut it, reposition it then place it on point for the back. I am posting a picture so you can see how it looks centered on top of the wrong side of the front.


The big block is a square. The quilt top is rectangle. The side points are at the junction of the front and border. The vertical points are about 5-6 inches shorter than than the top inside the borders. I want to use the focus fabric for everything around the medallion block and will bind it in the blue. If I make big setting triangles, there will still be a gap between the top and bottom.


One question I have is--if I use a big strip of the focus fabric across the top and bottom, will simple triangles fill in the leftover space? How would I figure out what size triangles I need?


Or would I need to cut big squares and sew them on like square in a square? I don't think I have enough fabric to do that.


I really like the idea of using the block this way for the backing, but I have no idea how to get the rest of the fabric to fit--how to cut it, what shapes, what sizes etc. Seriously, I thought today about going back to college to take geometry again!!! It's been 40 years since hs geometry. My ds helped me figure out how big I could make the squares of the nine patch without it being too big for the backing after turning it on the diagonal.


I will appreciate any assistance anyone can give!!!! TIA

3 Comments:

  • At July 31, 2007 at 5:45 AM , Blogger Judy in Ohio said...

    Judy, that is a lovely project you are working on! However, you need to give us the measurements of the quilt top and of the square so we can help you with the math.

    Judy

     
  • At July 31, 2007 at 6:50 AM , Blogger Judy in Ohio said...

    Judy, a trick you can use without straining your mathematical brain is to cut large pieces of paper (newspaper) to create the "patterns" for the triangles you will need to fill the sides of your on-point square. Once you have your paper triangles, put those together into a square so you can measure the paper to see how much fabric you will need.

    Judy

     
  • At July 31, 2007 at 11:59 AM , Blogger judy in ar said...

    Thank you for the compliment on my quilt and your assistance!! The rectangle top is 48" X 58." The square for the back is 28." But the backing needs to be a little bigger to allow for the sandwiching and quilting??

    It's funny that I never thought about using paper to figure out the back. Because I used paper to draw & cut out the 9 patch so I could tell which squares had to be yellow for the effect I wanted.

    Thanks again!

     

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