Border on bias?
 

I am making a quilt right now on which I have been planning on making a braid for the border.

In the middle of the night last night it dawned on me that the edges/sides of the braid will be on the bias! Is this going to be a problem? Am I going to be sorry that I have the bias edges on my border? Have you done this? Any suggestions?

Use lots of starch and stay stitch the edges.

you'll have to be careful while you are constructing the top. but when the quilt is sandwiched, the quilting will help stabilize the bias border.

STAY STITCH....STAY STITCH....and see how much it stretchs....if perhaps it is really bad, try perhaps some interfacing/stabilizer under it......You know thinking about it.....depending on how big your quilt is, I may suggest you just do the whole thing on stabilizer......that should reduce the potential problem to zero.

Could not agree more!!! If your quilt has bias edges do what ever it takes to stabilize those edges!! I made a Carpenter's Wheel and didn't border it and I took it to a long arm quilter. It was a real mess when I got it back because the edges stretched here and there. Stabilize it!!! If I was going to do a quilt that ends up with a bias edge again I might even use a very lightweight one sided fusible interfacing cut into strips and fuse them along the edges. You probably wouldn't need more than about half an inch along the edge. It would seriously save you a whooooooooooooooolo lotta headache down the road.

What they all said.
And I always say you can never have too much starch. ;-)

I remember years ago a friend calling me in tears because she couldn't get the borders on her Blooming 9-Patch to lie flat .
(The quilt is made up of over 250 3-3/4" blocks on point)
Turns out she used HST's instead of QST's for the setting triangles, so the edges on the queen-size quilt were all really unstable.
As in psycho unstable.
It was a nightmare.

But we chuckled about it.
After.

So even if you plan on putting another border on after the braid, I'd still recommend you stay stitching the outside braid edge.

What everyone else said, plus when you attach it to the quilt, use lots of pins. Find the center of the border and the center of the quilt and pin that, along with both corners. Then keep halving the distance between the pins on both the quilt and border and continue to pin.
Try not to let the border hang, or the weight of the fabric will pull it out of shape

Also, is it possible to rework the pattern so that you aren't dealing with the bias edge when applying the border?

ali

I used a bias border on one of the first quilts I made before I knew I should be worried about stretch. I didn't have any problems. In fact, it's one of my favorite quilts. Try the suggestions above, especially starch. You'll never know until you try.

I guess, depending on the method the OP is using to make her braid, you could eliminate trimming the outside FB edge straight until AFTER quilting.
Leave it be, layer the quilt sandwich (basting with spray, pins, thread, whatever) and quilt.
Then trim the edge straight.

You could also attach the inside edge to the quilt center first - pinning heavily to position correctly - and then trim the seam allowances.

Thanks for all of your ideas everyone! I was also going to add another straight grain narrow border after I put on the bias border so the bias edge would not be the outermost edge. I think that would help also!

I just did a 4 patch posey & did a braid for the border-I didn't do any of those things & sure wish I had/I'm hoping Charisma will work her majic & make it better! Will certainly starch & staystitch next one(if there ever is another) I am so dumb I didn't even realize it was on bias! I am definately a quilt challenged quilter!!

What is stay stitch? Should I know that already? Do I know what that is already and not know that I know that? Did I just say a riddle?

It's just stitching to stabilize the borders - just the quilt top, in this case no batting or backing.
But those stitches will keep the edges from stretching.

Another option is to use something like this - it eliminates the need for the stay stitch (and even the starch, it you really don't want to use it):
http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2359

Here's a suggestion. Instead of making at pattern of a braid, could you make an actual 3D braid and add it to the quilt after it is quilted? It would become the binding and final border all in one. Instead of being made of pieces cut into a pattern, it would be fabric braided, stitched to hold it's shape and then stitched to the edge of the quilt much in the way the Sharon Shambler (have I misspelled her last name) adds some of her borders on her award winning quilts.

This is what I did for the quilt below. In fact because I had just a few inches of extra fabric, I didn't trim it until after it was quilted and I was ready to put the binding on - even though I wasn't working with bias edges (they are strips), the theory is the same.

I use this trick which I've never shared before, sort of a "secret recipe"/personal trick of the trade.

I buy this at JoAnns in the hem tape/rickrack display section and keep several packages on hand at all times.

Jan in VA

That's a really snazzy looking border!

You can also add a narrow 2 or 3 inch border after the braided border to help stablize it. if you do it in the same color as the binding it will blend the two an be nearly invisible. A braided border sounds luscious.

EDIT: @ Jan in Va, You are genious!
peace

This twill tape is what dressmakers use in shoulder seams and any other fabric that is hard to control. Jan this is a fantastic idea. Barny

I am currently using this twill tape on a commission quilt that is ALL bias edges - in the strips, in the borders, on the very edges; I've bought out our Joanns twice! This is one tip I totally thought up myself. I'm happy to share it with you all; thank you for your appreciation.:)

Jan in VA