Joan's Trick

What do you do when your quilt top is 44" wide by 68" long and your backing fabric is 60" wide but only 66" long? I use Joan's Trick and create a diagonally pieced back.

Our 3rd Sunday Project Linus group meets tomorrow and I have woefully little ready to turn in. I promised Jodie I would get a blanket ready to tie. My Simple Strips top I brought home from our May meeting is the only quilt top I've finished in the last month, so I got to my loft sewing area this morning to work on it.

I found this lovely magenta corduroy in some donated fabric. It was extra wide, but not quite long enough. So using Joan's Trick, I cut the fabric on the diagonal and shifted the pieces to make it longer and narrower.

I used the pillowcase method to layer the quilt and finish the edges. This is a large Project Linus blanket and I decided to partially quilt it. I quilted the ditch by the border and the 2 long seams. This stabilizes the layers a bit and will make it easier to tie.

John Flynn documented a formula for Joan's Trick. It is on the free lessons page on his website. Scroll down to the section titled "Diagonal Pieced Back" for the story and a link to print the formula and instructions.