Friday, November 12, 2010

Oohh....those wavy borders!

So no photos today, but another subject I think is really important!  How to apply a border or borders to a quilt.  

For years I use to sew my borders on to my quilt by starting on the top and sewing down to the edge of the quilt and then just cutting off the remaining.  

Then I became a longarm quilter and found out that by doing that can possibly create some wonky quilts and wavy borders.  I have directions on my Website on how to add borders to a quilt, but wanted to share them here too.

Directions for applying borders:

  • Determine the length of the quilt border by averaging the two or three center measurements of the quilt body.
  • Cut two borders that length and pin them to opposite sides of the quilt.  Match the ends and centers, then gently ease in any fullness.
  • Pin, sew, and press
  • Repeat for the top and bottom borders.

We longarmers come across this often when quilting for others.  I think that some quilters are just unaware of how to apply borders and how it affects the squareness of the quilt and the difficulty it can be to quilt it.

It really is a simple thing that can make such a huge difference.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.  If you have any comments on the subject feel free to share...


Thanks

2 comments:

  1. Hi Jenny, I'm a longarm quilter too and wavy borders are definitely a common issue. I find measuring these 3 areas while the quilt is on the ironing board or dining room table results in a much more accurate measurement then if the quilt is on the floor. The ironing board cover provides a bit of drag and if you have a large quilt use a cutting mat on the dining room table that will produce some drag as well!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank You for sharing this information. I am new to the longarm quilting world and keep running into this issue. I thought it was something that I was doing wrong. Glad to know its not me.

    ReplyDelete