confused about measuring borders
 

Can anyone explain to me why when measuring borders you can't just cut them a couple of inches longer and trim the ends after sewing them on. why do you have to measure from the middle of the quilt and cut the strip exactly as so many people seem to advise ? I figure there must be a good reason I don't know about.

Because a lot of times you will end up with wavy borders. Careful measuring will give you the best chance at not having wavy borders or puckers when it's quilted.

If you cut long and sew them on, you can't guage the amount of stretch you are getting. This usually ends up with wavy borders. If you measure and cut exactly, you can ease (or stretch) the top to fit the correct length of border, and your quilt will be square with flat borders.
I've done both, and while I haven't had horrible issues without measuring, I definitely get better results when I do.

Having been there and done that, I can tell you exactly why. It's because the border fabric and the quilt edge tend to stretch as you sew. If you have not pre-measured and pre-cut, you will be highly likely to end up stretching the edge and sewing more border fabric to the edge of the quilt than the edge of the quilt should have. This results in ruffles at the edge of the quilt top. If you don't notice this until after you have quilted, you have a quilt with ruffley edges that will never lie straight and flat.

Often the edges of the quilt have stretched a bit while you are working on your top. If you add a border the way you suggested, you are adding a little more length each time you add a border. I once had a customer quilt where she had SEVEN 1-1/2" borders. By the time she finished adding them all, the edges of her quilt measured almost 5 inches more than the center portion!! She did not want to re-do them, so it made it VERY difficult for me to quilt the borders and get them to lay flat.

I have a handout on applying borders on my website that you can print out for reference. It's located on the Tips & Hints page. Once you see how nice and flat your quilt is if you measure borders when applying them, you will be happy to take the few extra minutes it takes to do it.

Andi

Will stay stitching the edge of the quilt before adding the border prevent any of the stretching problems?

Okay, I am going against the majority here. I don't measure my quilt before applying the border. I guesstimate the length and just make my borders strips longer than what I need and I trim the excess off when I am done. I don't cut my borders the length of the yardage but width of the fabric so my borders are always pieced and I am okay with that. I've never had a wavy border doing it this way.

But I bet you have an out of square quilt. After doing your border this way, measure the right side, then measure the left side. Are the two the same? I bet they aren't.

Do you use a longarm to quilt or hire a LAQ? If the answere is no, then it really doesn't make any difference unless you show. But if you do this and try to LA it is darn near impossible to LA the quilt without having to put a pleat in one or more of the borders.

No. By the time you are at that stage stretching has already occurred.

I cut measure how long each border needs to be then add a bit. A lot easier than patching.