Winning the Fat Quarter Drawing can be a loser when you find that no two fats go together. What to do? I have piled the winnings up for several years until I got into scrap quilts. I ironed and cut every fat quarter in the lot and found that I still had dozens. Then it occurred to me to make scrap backings. I began with the leftover blocks from the pieced front and built up a backing of similar tones. It was beautiful!
Lately, I have been in a hurry to finish and get the quilt off to the Longarm Quilter. So, I now make a “Fast and Furious” backing in a few hours. Starting with a steam iron, which I seldom use, I press the wrinkles out of a pile of fat quarters. I work in pairs and trim the fat quarters to 15 ½” x 20 ½” rectangles. The trimmings I cut up into 1 ½” – 2” strips or strings for more scrap quilts. Depending on the size of the top, I sew the fats together to a suitable size for the backing. It take approximately 1 ½ - 2 hours for an 80” x 90” back. This includes ironing, cutting and sewing.
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