Is it frowned on if the back is pieced together? I'm talking big hunks of fabric fit together to make a piece big enough--nothing pretty. :lol:

I'm trying to decide which five quilts to put in a local show--it's put on by a guild. And of the five, which I should decide to have judged. I have six in mind, Kayak on the Lake being one, but the back is flannel and um... well, my daughter likes it. :wink: And it shows more work than the ones I just bought a wide back for.... :thumbup:

My Barn Quilt is another.... its back is fine, but I wonder about the pieces I had to add to the side of one row to get everything to fit--seems that one is fun to look at but no one should look TOO closely. :shock:

Give me some tips on this whole new world of judging (to me), please!

That's one of those things that will probably depend on the judge. Some will like it and some won't.

I say put them all in and see what happens....

Look on the entry form. Sometimes the entry materials will give you a good indication of the judging criteria. I found it helpful to show my quilts early on because the feedback, both from judges, and casual viewers, really helped me. Quilt police may pose as judges, so be forewarned.

I am not a great technical sewer - anything I make will have sewing errors, but I create my own designs and most have an artistic likability. If I was judged solely on execution, I'd be disappointed.

Hmm--that's what I'm wondering. Let me check the entry sheets....

I work with the local county fair quilt judges every year. They look at binding first, then the piecing, then the quilting. The only thing they judge on back is the quilting stitching. None has ever knocked off points for a pieced backing. I've seen some judges at smaller quilt shows get all hung up on being judges and nick pick the quilts to death. I had one quilt get rejected by a judge and it won Viewer's Choice! So enter your quilt, you never know!

There's nothing on the forms to give a clue about the judging, so I think I'll just have some of them judged. The Barn Quilt is fun to look at, especially the quilting--not done by me! :wink: Maybe I'll include the Kayak one then... thanks BellaBoo!! And everyone else for your replies.

Go for it barnbum, what have you to loose? Your quilts are too nice not to enter them and let folks enjoy.

If you Google Judging Criteria at Quilt Shows you will get PDF files for the criteria used at numerous shows all over the place...just to give you a general idea of who does what and where. In my experience, the back is definitely considered as an integral part of the whole.

the one thing I was marked down for was not stitching down the miter at the corner of the binding. Never thought of it