Baby quilt sandwich problem

[CeeGee15]

I'm in the process of making a baby quilt(first quilt, first grandchild). It's a strip quilt. My original plan was to make the quilt 36 by 52. I picked out a plaid fabric for the backing that I love. It's 38 by 55. When I ordered it I didn't give much thought to what the actual measurement would be. I figured it would be about 41-42 inches wide. It wasn't and I love it and don't really want to look for a replacement. So, when I make my quilt sandwich the top is only about a 1/2 inch smaller than the back on the sides. It is about 3 inches smaller at the top and bottom. I'm planning to machine quilt it myself using a serpentine stitch, either along the seams or down the middle of each strip. I'm using Quilters Dream 80/20 midloft batting. I know I'm supposed to leave room to accommodate how much back and batting will be taken up by quilting. My question is should I trim the quilt top down another inch or so on the sides now before I quilt? The top is at 37 inches wide now, trimming it would take it down to 35inches. If I don't trim the top and quilt it as is am I taking a chance?

[JCY]

That's cutting it awfully close! I like to leave a minimum of 2" on all sides. You can try it like it is, then trim the edges later if needed. Most of my WOF yardage is 42-44", so I make my quilt top no wider than 38-39". I always trim the selvage edge from my backings prior to sandwiching. What pattern is the quilt top? Would it look right if it's trimmed? Do you have other backing fabric you could use?

[CeeGee15]

The quilt top is a strip pattern. Five different materials in varying widths. I think it will look fine trimmed. I'm just worried about the quilt getting too narrow. I was expecting the yardage of the backing material to be 42" but it turned out to be a strange cut with no selvage.

[Hulamoon]

I'm just thinking out loud here. What if you took some scrap fabric, any fabric, and sew some strips to all sides. Then you can center your quilt on it and the strips will end up in the seams. does that make sense?

[CeeGee15]

I thought about doing that and it's still a possibility.

[Patricia Drew]

That's what I would do.

[Bubby]

I would do something like inserting a strip of fabric to the backing to make it larger so you have plenty of extra backing to allow for pulling up.

[Hulamoon]

That's even better!

[cjsews]

I would quilt as is and trim after you have it quilted. Since you are not too worried about trimming down anyway. If things work out you may not need to trim. Just be sure you baste well to help from any shifting as you quilt

[jjkaiser]

You don't have much wiggle room there. You will have to be really careful lining up your sandwich so you have a pinch extra on all four sides. Otherwise you run the risk of starting your quilting only to discover the front has no back at the other edge if you misjudged when basting. I find it helps to mark the center of all three pieces (top, batting, backing) with a pen, that's four marks on each piece (top center, bottom center, right center, left center) and pin those marks together first, then baste. Good luck!

[sydneybean]

I think I would check also with where you purchased it and see if it was suppose to be wider. If it had no selvages then something was trimmed off. I think I would quilt it first and then trim it off. Good luck