Same size Backing and Top

[CrazyQuilter 1]

A customer sent me a double sided quilt. The problem is the back is the same size as the front. How can I quilt this?

[jimerickson 463]

Sew scrap strips of fabric to the ends and sides to give yourself enough room to clamp.  I would have had the owner do that before accepting the job.  Jim

[quiltmonkey 443]

6 hours ago, jimerickson said:

Sew scrap strips of fabric to the ends and sides to give yourself enough room to clamp.  I would have had the owner do that before accepting the job.  Jim

Even if you sew scraps of fabric to all four sides, if the quilt top is the same size as the back, it's absolutely impossible to avoid quilting the extra strip's seam line into the quilt while quilting it. Trust me in my 15 years of longarm quilting, it is nearly impossible to accomplish this very difficult and extremely stressful situation. 

I would contact customer and ask her to provide you with larger backing fabric that is at a minimum 8" wider and  8" longer than the quilt top. 

My job is to quilt the customer's quilt without pulling my hair out... it's not my job to perform miracles due to the failure of the customer to provide ample backing fabric. IMHO. 

[quiltmonkey 443]

Adding one more thing:  I am (by nature) a very accommodating and nice person. Probably too nice sometimes. In dealing with my quilting customers, the word "no" is not a word I use, ever. Very rare situations when I need to tell a customer the word "no" ... and this situation is generally the only time I stand up for myself and say "No! Sorry, my requirement is to have 8" wider and 8" longer than quilt top." Period. End of story. I've almost hurt myself numerous times trying to quilt a quilt with barely enough backing fabric. It's dangerous. I draw the line when it comes to injuring myself because of a customer did not give me enough backing fabric. 

[Gator 470]

I agree with Shana.  Save yourself to quilt another day.  Do you have a set of rules for customers?  It's a good rule of thumb to add your requirements to the invoice or contract when you accept the customer's quilts. 

[Sandra G 0]

Oh yeah, I've had this happen more than once LOL!  If your quilt has a border, just quilt the field to the edge of the border then do straight line channel stitching horz and vertical for the border.

If your quilt has blocks all round the edge, quilt the field leaving all the outside blocks free, then do same as above to create a channel border.

I never run my patterns off the quilt as I don't like cut off motifs.  I size my digital patterns to start and end about 1/2" in from the quilt edge.  So worst case scenario, I sew scrap strips to backing using basting stitch and can easily pull the strips away after quilting.