ArtsyOne

I had cut my yellow border strip at 1.5", but decided that a 1/4" yellow border looked much better and was trying to figure out how to cut it down or lay the next border far enough away from the edge to bring it down to the 1/4". That's when a lightbulb came on and I decided to sew a placing line 1/2" from the inner edge (1st photo), lay my next border against it and sew a 1/4" seam. This would work even if you wanted a 1/8" highlighting strip because you don't need to deal with very narrow strips of fabric.
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Petey

Great idea - thanks for sharing. It has a paper piecing kinda feel to it where you use much bigger pieces of fabric for ease of handling.

DixieDoodle

Wonderful idea, much easier than what I have done in the past! I will have to try this on the next quilt I make needing a narrow border.

Freddie

great idea! Thanks

ghostrider

Here's another easy way to sew very narrow, accurate inserts.

Sew the first seam of the insert (orange) with a ¼" seam as usual.



Press the seam allowance away from the insert, turn it over and place the raw edge on top of the next piece of fabric to be added (green). Pin the edges.

Line up the left edge of your quarter inch foot with the first seam and sew the second seam.






Trim the seam allowance if necessary and press open. The result is a perfectly straight ¼" insert.



This technique can be used for any width by using other foot markings or the arm-like quilting guide that comes with most sewing machines. As long as you follow the previous seam line, your inset strip will be a consistant width, dead on, no extra steps necessary. Your brain will have to flex a bit at first to sew on the left side, but it gets easy very fast.

alisonquilts

I love it! I think the sign of a great tip is that as soon as you see it you think "now why didn't I think of that?" because a great tip is so intuitively correct that it stuns you that you did not see it for yourself!

Thanks.

Alison

Crqltr

Thanks for the tip! This is one that I will be using for sure!

franc36

Thanks for the great tip! You posted it the very day I needed it.

fred singer

it is very good,advice.

jemma

thank you great tip