Stack to the Back

Some years ago, I was asked by an interior designer to make four quilts for the Nairobi Serena Hotel. The quilts were intended to hang on four cupboard doors in a cocktail lounge, the Axum Bar, that was decorated with an Ethiopian theme.

​The room, nearly finished, was full of cultural elements that offered more than enough inspiration, so the design part of the commission was fairly easy. I decided to make the four quilts out of silk dupion fabrics in luscious, rich-looking colors to coordinate with the furnishings. Even that part was easy. The hard part, compounded by working with fabric cut on bias, was making sure that all four quilts were exactly the same size!

Tribute to Ethiopia: Four panels, one for each major Ethiopian city: Addis Ababa, Harrar, Axum, and Lalibela

The solution was simpler than I expected. I measured, marked and cut four backings, squared and of the same dimensions, upon which each top had to fit! The quilting involved a process known as “quilting out.” Quilting out means easing a little more top onto the backing, forcing the fabrics to fill a predetermined area. I made the four quilts by this method, and was very pleased with the results!
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Learn how to stack to the back of your quilts, and discover much more useful information in my ebook, Bind Quilts by Machine.