Pin through both layers at the match to keep fabrics from shifting. A mitered corner is stitched at a 45-degree angle to the sides of the quilt.Figure 1: A plain border can have squared o… Unless your piecing is darn near perfect, you will end up with wavy, wonky borders. To Determine the Length of Side Borders Measure the quilt starting at the top edge to the bottom edge through the middle row. One of the most pesky problems for quilters is trying to get borders to fit right on their quilts. Sew with the quilt border on the bottom so you can make sure quilt seams don’t get flipped in the wrong direction. In the third border, the cornerstones are plain squares of a contrasting color. The feed dogs will help take up the slack. For a comforter-size finished project, measure from the top of the mattress to slightly past its lower edge to figure the drop length. Use the same method to sew the remaining border to the opposite side of the quilt. When measuring for borders on your quilt, begin by spreading your quilt out on your work surface making sure that it is laying flat but not pulled tight. Press the seam allowance towards the border. Second, the slap and sew has waviness in the borders indicating too much fabric on all four sides. Press. Take a look at the corner. It's not unusual for the four edges of an unfinished quilt top to all be slightly different lengths because the edges of quilts are often stretched out of shape a bit during construction. Example using width of quilt to calculate size of borders: I want my finished quilt to be 48 inches in width. Cut border strips carefully. Believe me, I see this with even the most experienced quilters so this isn’t me picking on the newbies. I set up an extension of my cutting board with a chair and a cardboard sewing mat. Stitch to within 1/4" of the edge. In this case, you would measure the center of the quilt in BOTH directions, without sewing on the first set of borders. Cut the side border strips to the average measurement from Step 3. Borders are then cut to match the average length. Tip:  Since I always square my units as I go and then square my blocks before assembling the quilt, I trust that a 12" block is really a 12" block and not 11.75" or 12.25". Pin the middle of the strip to the middle of the quilt, pin the ends, then pin the remaining areas, easing in any fullness. This gives you the side measurements. If one side of the quilt is just the tiniest bit larger than the border, place the quilt top down on the bed of your sewing machine when sewing the border on. The ends of each border unit will look like stair steps, since each successive border piece will be larger than the one before it. Made completely of simple triangles, it looks like a curling ribbon falling down the side of your quilt. Step 2: Measure the length of your quilt top. For example, if you have made a landscape quilt and wish to have the border mirror the nearest color in the quilt, you would have to measure that area and cut a strip that was the right length. You spent a long time making your quilt. If your quilt has more than one border, you can sew them together and treat them as one so that you only have to miter each corner once. Then cut it to length. Piece border strips end-to-end to achieve length. Again, using the measurement of the center of the quilt, add the width of your border twice, plus 4 1/2" inches. 234 … Forcing your quilt to match identically cut borders will force it to remain flat. If you use fabric cut from the lengthwise grain of your fabric, you may end up with unpieced strips. Reverse the process if it is your border … Place the border along the side of the quilt, right sides together and midpoints matched. Fold a border in half crosswise and crease. var today = new Date(); var year = today.getFullYear(); document.write(year); Thank you for your demonstration on borders. For multiple borders, sew strips together first and attach to quilt as one unit. With pieced blocks, this will be true because you have squared each unit as you went along (didn't you?). A mitered border is a slightly different process. Mark the center point of both the border and the quilt top and pin a border to one sides of the top. The overlap can include the selvedge since it will be trimmed off. While these measurements will generally work when assembling a quilt, it is always important to measure your quilt top and make adjustments to the border length if needed, before attaching it to the quilt. Sewing border strips without measuring is a recipe for disaster. NEVER JUST SEW FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER WITHOUT PINS! You do not add the seam allowances from the seams that will be sewn between the cornerstones and the border strips. Take note, however, that this only works on straight sets. Add up the lengths of all the sides. For example, if the striped border is 3 1/2" wide, the cornerstone would be 3 1/2" wide. The illustration shows the two pieces face to face with the top piece extending about 1/2" at the side and have the under strip sticking out 1/2" at the top. You must be able to pin the edges of the quilt. How to Sew the First Two Borders to the Quilt, How to Sew a Carpenter's Star Quilt Block, How to Make Quilt Sashing With Cornerstones, How to Sew an Easy Log Cabin Quilt Pattern. To determine the length of the top and bottom border, measure through the center of the quilt from side to side, remembering to add the side border measurements plus the 1/2" seam allowance. This number will be displaced in the … Open and check that there is no gap in the stitching and the end pieces come out evenly. Repeat to sew the remaining border to the quilt. This makes the join almost invisible on print fabric and much less obvious on solid fabrics. For a coverlet, measure from the top of the mattress to slightly past the bottom of the bed rail. To measure the pieced quilt top, place your tape in the middle of the longest side and then in the middle of the shortest side. Then (and only then!) Later, after you have batted and quilted your piece, you will do this again so that the entire quilt is square before adding binding. Raw edges should be aligned along the quilt's entire side. Cut two borders to this size. Using the lengthwise grain means that the fabric has no stretch or give. Add at least two-inches to each of your measurements. Note:  You do not even have to actually MEASURE. You may also specify the width of the fabric. While this may seem simple, there are several steps that need to be taken to ensure that the fabric is on the straight of grain and as flat as possible. This border is easy enough for beginners, yet looks impressive with many quilt styles. To make it easier, sew on the side borders first. Cut or piece two borders that length. If you choose to do cornerstones, you just count your blocks, multiply, then add cornerstones the width of your border strips in each corner. If measurements at the edges differ from those at the center, ease the borders while sewing. Therefore, I prefer using the method outlined below. Some borders are too long and they “lettuce leaf” the edges by stretching them out as they are sewn on. (Twice, right? Strips are usually cut on the lengthwise grain and pieced for length. Loved your fabrics in the quilt you made. Continue matching and pinning the border to the quilt just as you did side borders, working with ends first then matching and pinning the remaining length. trim away excess. In other words, in the example above, you would mark the border strip 5 1/4" from each end. Use a square ruler, the largest one you own, and put it in the corner. Pin the midpoint of the border to the vertical midpoint at the top of … Measure the border by laying the measuring tape on top and carefully smoothing it. Cut two identical strips and sew on. For practice, try this once on a 12" square - add multiple borders and practice your mitering skills without wasting a lot of fabric. Continue matching and pinning the border to the entire side of the quilt, pinning at close intervals if you must ease in fullness to coax the two lengths to match. The trick is to leave extra space where the fabric will stretch the most. This will help ensure that the borders lay flat once they are sewn in place and there is no waviness to the border. Lay the quilt on a flat surface and measure through the middle from top to bottom. Borders. She has published over 350+ articles for The Spruce Crafts. The cornerstones are of a different, usually contrasting, color than the rest of the border and create a structural effect within the quilt's design. Determine which borders to sew first to make the best use of your fabric. You have to plan for this from the beginning. Cut two identical strips. On each join you lose the width of the strip plus the amount you overlapped. The horizontal measurement is 5 X 12" = 60" + 1/2". Step 1: Determine how many inches of continuous border strip is needed. Once cut, it is almost impossible to make corrections. This kind of seam uses more fabric than a butted seam. Your quilt will NOT be square and may even have ripples along the edges. Then cut the cornerstones to match the width of the strips. In our example, the math would look like this: 2" + 3" + 36" + 3" + 2" + 1/2" seam allowance(we are adding both seam allowances in one step by using 1/2"). This gives you the measurement for the top and bottom. Pin the midpoint of the border to the vertical midpoint at the top of the quilt, right sides together and raw edges matched. Unless otherwise indicated, all other content is the property of Arbee Designs LLC. Press carefully–but don’t press so aggressively that you add a “wave” into your border. So if the border strip has the fullness, sew with the body of the quilt on top. In the second border, they are pieced 9-patch blocks. The second and third borders on this quilt have cornerstones. You can sew them all together and treat the strip as one piece to cut the lengths needed for each side. Your simple border will be trimmed later as needed. Place fabrics right sides together and sew a diagonal seam to make a mitered join on border strips, Quilt is 70" x 45"Borders are 2 1/2" wide finishedFabric is 40" wide, original total length of border = 230"230 ÷  40 = 5.75 (round up to 6 which means 5 seams), add width of strip plus 1" for each 45º seam3+1 = 4" x 5 seams = 20", add the amount needed to miter each corner (2" for each end of a border strip) + 1/4" seam allowance for each end = 4 1/2" needed to complete EACH miter, add these two numbers to your original total230 + 20 + 18 = 268  total pieced length needed for borders, divide again by the width of the fabric268 ÷ 40 =  6.7 (round up to 7), This is the actual number of strips you need to cut to make your pieced borders. Matching the center points, sew the border to the quilt top, stopping 1/4" before you ge… This gives you the side measurements. (And yes, before you ask, you can do it the other way around and put the top and bottom on first and the sides on last.). Then I punch in 37.5 to the calculator and click the Actual size button which includes the seam allowances. After stitching, press strips away from quilt. Take accurate measurements. It helps if you put the area with fullness against the feed dogs. Let's look at the anatomy of a 45º seam. Slip the cutting ruler under the tape and be sure it is in the right place. Sew the border to the quilt with a 1/4 inch seam. More Tips for Adding Quilt Borders. Measuring For Borders. If the quilt is skewed a bit and you measure the sides of the quilt to determine border length, the quilt will be just as out of square as it was before borders were added. Measuring tape Sewing machine Rotary cutter. Each border piece is marked so that the amount you have left for the miter is not sewn to the body of the quilt. Beautiful. Get DIY project ideas and easy-to-follow crafts to help you spruce up your space. I actually draw myself a little sketch,  adding each border, and then I can visually SEE that there need to be TWO sets of numbers added, one for each side. Using the proper method, I measured the first border for the Waltz quilt. This only works for butted borders. Attach these to the top and bottom of the quilt. I punch in 48 to the calculator and click the Finished size button which will then display 48 in the top box. The feed dogs will help ease this fullness. You may also choose to just count the number of squares in your quilt and multiply. If you have set your blocks on point, the measurement through the middle of the block is actually 1.414 X the outside measurement, a number I would just as soon NOT multiply out. Select a border style and enter your planned border widths and fabric widths. Using your long ruler, place the 45° angle across the top of the border, so you can draw a line along the edge of the ruler from the corner of the borders to the intersection with the quilt corner as shown in the diagram. Press the seam allowance towards the border. If not calculating yardage required for borders, set the border widths to 0. Measure the quilt from side-to-side through its horizontal midpoint, including the width of the first borders. We have plenty of quilt border ideas and simple quilt borders. Start measuring about 4″ in from the sides. Sew the border to the quilt with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. The first step in cutting long quilt borders is folding your fabric down to a manageable size that will fit on your cutting mat. Step 1: Decide how wide you want your borders. The Twisted Ribbon quilt border is one of those deceptive borders where the design depends on color and fabric choice. Lay the quilt on a flat surface. Some quilts are made of long strips or other types of joined units, such as Bargello. Straight sewn quilt borders, also called butted borders, are quick and easy to sew—that's probably why they are the most commonly used borders for quilts. Cut or piece two borders that length. 15 Responses to “How to Make a Quilt Border: Cutting and Measuring” julie April 10th, 2014 . Measure the quilt from side-to-side through its horizontal midpoint, including the width of the first borders. The … Borders are usually sewn to the two longest sides of the quilt first and then to the remaining two sides with the final two extending straight across the ends of the first borders. These instructions for measuring and sewing straight borders to a quilt can be used to add any type of border. Open and check that the strips meet evenly. You can then sew in a straight line between the two intersections that are formed. Match and pin the bottom end of the border to the bottom edge of the quilt, then match and pin the other end of the border to the quilt. Some quilters use 1/2 inch seams. Lay the quilt out on a flat surface with your cutting mat under one corner. To make this angle, you have to work on the right side (rotating the quilt so the corner you need is always to the upper right). Measure through middle, including the two borders you have just added. Cut two identical strips and sew on. The seam allowance belongs to the main quilt BUT actually is not sewn. Students may not teach these classes or make copies of the material for others. Would have liked to seen how to do borders on a larger quilt where you would have to add to the border strip to make it long enough to fit the side of the quilt. Stitch from the quilt out to the edge, starting your stitch in the last stitch you used to attach the borders. Press away from quilt. For example, if the quilt square is 12-inches by 12-inches. Borders made with. 56 + 61 + 56 + 61. equals. Repeat this same procedure on all four corners. These shorter pieces have to be pieced for long borders and this should be done using a diagonal seam. You can just lay your border strip on the quilt and cut to the size of the quilt body. There is an important trick to remember here. To find how long each border piece needs to be, use this equation: length of quilt side + (width of the border x 2) + 6″ = Total Border Fabric Length of quilt side: … Fold one of the borders in half crosswise to find its midpoint, using your fingers to crease it slightly at that spot. All Rights Reserved. By not trimming the excess fabric until you are satisfied, you are completely free to do this over. Step 1. NEVER JUST SEW FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER WITHOUT PINS! Use the same method, but measure horizontally first and start at the Short sides. You can easily "square up" your quilt by adding borders that have been measured for perfection. 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