Borders -- how do you handle them?
 

I was just thinking about borders as I was trying to figure out the size for a quilt -- here are some questions:

-- Do you measure down the center to get the length of the border or do you just lay a piece of fabric down and sew on the border, cutting it afterward?

-- Do you ever fudge the width of the border a bit to get the quilt the size you want?

-- When you piece the border (with stars, flying geese or ...), do you adjust the size of the blocks or do you put in a "fudge factor" of a plain strip somewhere in the strip so everything comes out even?

-- When you do mitered corners -- do you stitch all your borders together so you only have to do the miter once or do you miter each individually?

-- Have you every used left over strips of random widths in a piano-key-like border and did you like the affect?

-- Do you use cornerstones, miters or just lap your corners?

-- Have you added prarie points -- and how do you handle the bulk?

I'm interested to hear your thoughts on borders.
Thanks.

YES...

to most of your questions---

1. yes i measure through the center- cut the border and add it----
yes, i have added borders to the sides then trimmed them to size
2.yes- when necessary i 'adjust' the size of a border to fit the bed
3.yes- when piecing borders i adjust the blocks to fit-
yes- sometimes i have to add (fudge) to make a border work
4. yes- when mitering multiple borders i stitch them together then do the miter- if that works for that project- if not- i add/miter individually
5.yes- i've made varying size strips in a piano key border---yes i liked it
6. yes- i use corner blocks if the quilt calls for it- yes i miter corners if the quilt needs that type of border- and yes i overlap borders on some quilts
7.yes- i've used prarie points --- you trim the bulk

so see- each quilt is an individual- each needs/has it's own needs- there are no wrong answers= you can make your quilt any way you want to achieve the outcome you are seeking.

I measure down the center to get the length for the side borders and sew those on, easing where necessary to make the quilt and border match in length. Then after pressing, I measure across the center of the quilt to get the length of the top and bottom borders and repeat the process.

You can make borders any size you want. Especially when you're working with pieced and whole borders, you often have an "odd" sized plain/whole border to accommodate the pieced one.

If the difference is very small, you can simply ease the longer of two parts onto the shorter so that they come out the same size. An inch is easily eased in the large king-sized bed quilts that I usually make. I haven't done a lot of pieced borders, but the quilt I just finished has a narrow 3/4" plain border, a 1½" sawtooth border, then a 6" border with contrasting corner blocks. If something hadn't fit, I could have adjusted with a strip of plain cloth, or I could have adjusted the 3/4" border to 1/2" or 1". This "floating" strip is adjusted a lot more when one of the subsequent borders will be made of larger blocks.

The next quilt that I'll finish will have mitered borders and I plan to sew all the strips into border units, sew them to the quilt and then miter the corners. :)

Yes, I like this effect very much.

I also like cornerstones, corner blocks, mitered corners, lapped corners - whatever looks nice. I've not used prairie points - yet - but I love the look of them. :)

Here is a quilt I did with the piano key border:

thepolyparrot, your quilt is just brilliant. Wow.
Annie

thepolyparrot -- I love your quilt!!

Thank you for your responses. I was trying to find out how folks approach their borders. I normally measure through the middle of the quilt before I cut the borders, but sometimes on small quilts I don't bother (slap my hands). There are so many options, with borders that I wanted to see how folks approached them.

polyparrot. I love your quilt and pillowcases. they are gorgeous.

First, I make sure the quilt is pressed and opposite sides are equal. If not, I fix them. For straight borders, I am lazy about sewing then cutting. This works because of the first step and my very even pressure in combining the parts. I use both methods for miters, "depending". For pieced borders, if I need a fudge factor, it's generally in inner border strip, although sometimes I design something to put into the middle of the border to serve that purpose, generally also reversing the direction of the border in its middle. (Flying geese flying towards each other, for example). I use just about eery form of corner, but I think I use cornerstones more often than not.

:thumbup:

Oh, my that lovely masterpiece can come and play at my house anytime! :D And bring the pillow covers too, so they don't get lonely!

Ooooooo that is Wow! Love the way the colors go together.

OMG thepolyparrot--that is an absolutely fabulous sunny take away the winter time blues quilt. It could come to my house and make me happy any November at all!!! Lovely!!

Okay, back to the origional post. I have a need to keep my measurements right. I measure thru the center of my top, then cut the border and mark the block increments. I have found that it is easier to ease fullness and also helps to square up the blocks. Takes a bit more time and more math but it really really helps--especially if you have done the same for the sashing. I hate wonky tops.