The Backside Story

Hello friends of First Friday’s!  It’s your friend TJ here to fill you in on the what’s been happening with my quilt project.

Last month we left off with my layout decisions made and my rows neatly stacked like proud soldiers.  I strutted around completely and utterly proud of myself until one tiny nagging detail crept in: the backside.

OMG this thing needs a backside.

Susan had suggested in a couple of her comments that I could use flannel and sew this thing up rag quilt style.  This seemed like the perfect idea considering I had decided to use the three hundred or so 4″ squares that I had already cut up and sitting there, just waiting to be sewn. 

I headed to the fabric store, coupons in one fist and notes in the other.

I was immediately greeted with enthusiasm.  “What can we help you with today?” the sales clerk kindly asked.

“Flannel,” I answered confidently.

That confidence lasted exactly 43 more seconds until I got into the aisle and was hit with the overwhelming selection and the endless decisions that lay ahead of me.  I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted.  I wanted something neutral.  I didn’t fart around for an entire day on my knees sorting blocks by the slightest variation of shade in order to put something contrasting or competing in there.  I considered white but then immediately dismissed it since we’ll be using the quilt outside.  I was thinking brown, blue, or gray until I got there and saw all the prints there were to choose from.  Oh my.  Pretty soon I was weighing the merits of a gray chevron against a cream with gold polka dots.  Then I was looking at a checkerboard skater style in between fingering all the traditional shirt flannels.  I went back and forth trying to visualize the finished project with the various options.  There was star flannel, froo-froo kiddie flannel, sporty flannel – and people let me tell you nothing could have prepared me for the discovery of biker flannel! I must’ve spent 30 minutes in that aisle in a fugue state.

Since I was planning on a rag quilt I wasn’t sure if I picked a bigger print how it would look once it was all cut down into 4″ squares and sewn back together willy-nilly.  Surely you’d lose the overall pattern and it would look like Grandma’s china smashed to smithereens and glued back together by desperate children.  Eventually I came back to my senses and returned to the original plan for a solid.  And that’s when it happened.

For no apparent reason whatsoever, a bolt of fabric fell off the shelf behind me and whacked me in the butt.  I turned around and tried to wrestle it back in place but it would not nestle back between it’s neighbors.  Suddenly I was petting it and thinking about what that would be like on the back of my quilt.  It was something from the ‘Soft and Comfy’ section.  The label read, “100% Polyester.”  So even though it feels like a soft exotic animal, I’m pretty sure nothing living was harmed or killed in the making of it.

Next, two ladies appeared who had a cart. (And here’s a little tip for you…if you have a cart full of fabric, you’re obviously a pro so you are opening yourself up to questions from rookie clowns like myself).  These women uttered something like, “we sew everything.”

Clearly these were angels sent from Fabric Heaven to help me.

I lured them into my quilt project.  Next thing you know I marched that big beasty bolt of soft and comfy right up to the cutting counter because they said the most important thing that I had lost sight of, “you can put whatever you want on the back of your quilt.  That’s why you’re sewing it.”

It couldn’t have been a clearer message.  They’re absolutely right!  If I want this thing to be denim on one side and Snuffelupogus on the other, that’s up to me!  Hello people, there is no right or wrong here.

After some discussion, it was ascertained that the worst that can happen is that if I want to use this synthetic fabric as the back it isn’t going to “rag” as other rag quilts.  It’s probably just going to curl once it’s washed. The  denim will inevitably fray.  I have no idea how those two things will look together.  I’m not even sure I care.  I like this gray cozy fabric that chose me and sometimes you’ve just got to believe these things happen for a reason.

TJ Goerlitz is a mixed media artist who pretends to be a seamstress whenever possible.  Come connect with her on her site, Studio Mailbox, her Facebook page, or in Pinterest.  Join in the story of the denim quilt every first Friday of the month where she will share her progress (or non-progress) right here with the readers of The Sewing Loft.