Is there a solution to this border problem?
09-04-2016, 08:01 PM
#1
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: at the foot of the Ouichita Mountains, SE Oklahoma
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Is there a solution to this border problem?
I don't know what happened, but when I began to sandwich my quilt by spray basting, I discovered that my white 4-" outside border had apparently stretched. I don't know when that happened. The sewn edge is perfect, but when I tried to spray basted the outside edges, it was very wavy. 
.
No, the spray didn't do it. I hadn't sprayed that part yet.
Now I don't know how to fix it. I've spray basted it all but the edges when I discovered it. Even if i hadn't I still wouldn't know what I would do about those outside edges.
Anyone had this problem? If so what did you do? If I make another border, I think that same material might stretch as well. It's the same white as the block, which didn't stretch when sewn. I can't imagine what happened.
.No, the spray didn't do it. I hadn't sprayed that part yet.
Now I don't know how to fix it. I've spray basted it all but the edges when I discovered it. Even if i hadn't I still wouldn't know what I would do about those outside edges.
Anyone had this problem? If so what did you do? If I make another border, I think that same material might stretch as well. It's the same white as the block, which didn't stretch when sewn. I can't imagine what happened.
Last edited by QuiltnNan; 09-05-2016 at 02:53 AM. Reason: remove shouting
09-04-2016, 08:28 PM
#2
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Chula Vista CA
Posts: 7,361
There are usually 2 reasons why a border is wavy.
1.) the fabric stretches
2.) instead of measuring the center of the quilt and cut the border before sewing it to the quilt, you just sewed the border on the edge and then trimmed it when you got to the end. (I'm not sure why that happens, but it does.)
You have 2 choices.
1.) you can make darts and quilt it so it blends in.
2.) take it off, measure it trim and re-sew it on. It will be sticky if you have already done the spray basting, but it can be done. If you have enough fabric to make a new border I would probably do that instead of trying to sew the one that is sticky from the spray.
Most of us have had this experience one time or another. It usually happens when I am in in a hurry and think I can get away with the quick way without measuring.
1.) the fabric stretches
2.) instead of measuring the center of the quilt and cut the border before sewing it to the quilt, you just sewed the border on the edge and then trimmed it when you got to the end. (I'm not sure why that happens, but it does.)
You have 2 choices.
1.) you can make darts and quilt it so it blends in.
2.) take it off, measure it trim and re-sew it on. It will be sticky if you have already done the spray basting, but it can be done. If you have enough fabric to make a new border I would probably do that instead of trying to sew the one that is sticky from the spray.
Most of us have had this experience one time or another. It usually happens when I am in in a hurry and think I can get away with the quick way without measuring.
09-04-2016, 08:30 PM
#3
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Blue Ridge Mountians
Posts: 7,076
So sorry this happened to you.
my guess is you did not cut the boarder on the straight of grain. A cross wise cut on the WOF will stretch when stitching or when pressing.
How bad is the stretch?
1) If it is a little stretch, can you "ease" it back to square with no puckers or pleats?
2) If it is a lot of stretch, can you make a lovely gathered amount to square it up?
3) If it is a medium amount of stretch, (can't ease & can't gather nicely), how about gathering what it is and covering the gathers with prairie points that point into the boarder with the large part of the triangle tucked into the blinding essentially covering the gathers,
4) Do you have enough boarder fabric to replace it and cutting on the straight of grain?
my guess is you did not cut the boarder on the straight of grain. A cross wise cut on the WOF will stretch when stitching or when pressing.
How bad is the stretch?
1) If it is a little stretch, can you "ease" it back to square with no puckers or pleats?
2) If it is a lot of stretch, can you make a lovely gathered amount to square it up?
3) If it is a medium amount of stretch, (can't ease & can't gather nicely), how about gathering what it is and covering the gathers with prairie points that point into the boarder with the large part of the triangle tucked into the blinding essentially covering the gathers,
4) Do you have enough boarder fabric to replace it and cutting on the straight of grain?
09-04-2016, 08:55 PM
#4
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
You can prevent this problem by measuring your quilt top through the middle. Cut two of your border strips to that measurement, then pin the strips to the quilt top before sewing, pinning the middles together first, then the ends, and then as many pins as needed in-between. Once those two borders are sewn and ironed on, measure your quilt through the middle in the other direction to figure out how long to cut the remaining two border strips. (An easy way to cut these strips is to fold your quilt in half, then lay your strip along that fold and cut.) The reason for doing this is to make sure that your border strips on both sides are equal (necessary in order to have a squared finished quilt), and also to make sure that you are not sewing excess border fabric onto the quilt top.
What happens when you simply sew border strip to top without first measuring and cutting to size is that the simple act of sewing tends to stretch either the border fabric or the top, or both. This is not obvious on small pieces of fabric when you are sewing blocks together, but it adds up when you are sewing a single long strip -- especially when the quilt top's edge has many seams in it.
Cutting the border strips on the lengthwise grain of the fabric (parallel to the selvedges) can also help as fabric does not stretch as much on this grain as it does on the crosswise grain (width of fabric). However, you still need to pre-measure and pre-cut the border strips because the quilt top edges themselves can be stretching. Measuring through the quilt top's middle and cutting the border strips to that measurement ensures that, if the quilt top's edges have stretched with handling, you will know when pinning that you need to ease in that quilt top edge.
In terms of a solution, if your border fabric is a plain fabric, your best bet is to run machine gathering stitches (basting stitches) around each edge. Gather up the excess until the edge measurement matches the top measurement. Secure the ends and distribute the gathers evenly, then machine baste the quilt top edge to the other two layers before binding. (You can sew the binding on before trimming the edges so that you don't accidentally cut through your gathering stitches.)
If your border fabric is patterned, you can make some darts from the outer edge towards the inner. Many patterns, especially smaller ones, will render these darts almost invisible.
What happens when you simply sew border strip to top without first measuring and cutting to size is that the simple act of sewing tends to stretch either the border fabric or the top, or both. This is not obvious on small pieces of fabric when you are sewing blocks together, but it adds up when you are sewing a single long strip -- especially when the quilt top's edge has many seams in it.
Cutting the border strips on the lengthwise grain of the fabric (parallel to the selvedges) can also help as fabric does not stretch as much on this grain as it does on the crosswise grain (width of fabric). However, you still need to pre-measure and pre-cut the border strips because the quilt top edges themselves can be stretching. Measuring through the quilt top's middle and cutting the border strips to that measurement ensures that, if the quilt top's edges have stretched with handling, you will know when pinning that you need to ease in that quilt top edge.
In terms of a solution, if your border fabric is a plain fabric, your best bet is to run machine gathering stitches (basting stitches) around each edge. Gather up the excess until the edge measurement matches the top measurement. Secure the ends and distribute the gathers evenly, then machine baste the quilt top edge to the other two layers before binding. (You can sew the binding on before trimming the edges so that you don't accidentally cut through your gathering stitches.)
If your border fabric is patterned, you can make some darts from the outer edge towards the inner. Many patterns, especially smaller ones, will render these darts almost invisible.
Last edited by Prism99; 09-04-2016 at 09:03 PM.
09-05-2016, 01:54 AM
#6
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Illinois
Posts: 2,140
Agree with the others, although, if you haven't already spray basted the seam of the border, you could unsew those seams, measure through the middle of the quilt, cut to the appropriate size & re-sew. I had to do that once & when it was all done, you could never tell.
09-05-2016, 04:38 AM
#7
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 1,310
I also just saw on a Missouri Star tutorial to always sew with the border on top; she too said you can get a wavy border if you put the border on the bottom; even she wasn't sure why this happens. I hope you're able to salvage the placemats.
09-05-2016, 05:08 AM
#8
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 3,523
I have had good luck with stitching the stretched edge with the longest stitch on my sewing machine, and then very very gently pulling on the thread to gather in the fullness. It probably isn't all that much in reality, and once you have it gathered to your satisfaction, spray baste andpin paste the borders.
09-05-2016, 05:33 AM
#9
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Location: Southern USA
Posts: 16,023
I press the border toward the seam. Any overlap I manipulate the fold to be even with the seam. No one can tell any difference. This happens to me sometimes even if I measure correctly and use lengthwise grain for the border.
09-05-2016, 06:49 AM
#10
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Location: Lake Elsinore, CA
Posts: 15,160
Everyone has given good advice. The reason the border appears to be the right size at the seam line is that the feed dogs move the bottom fabric a little more than the top fabric. The difference isn't noticeable at the seam line, but it is at the edge of a border. Using a walking foot would have helped, but measuring first through the middle, cutting the border to length, and pinning it evenly across the quilt would still have been the best way.
Several options have been given to you. I think the best one is to take off the borders and reattach after cutting them down to the correct size. This sounds like a lot of work, but in the end you're fixing the problem rather than trying to deal with the aftermath. Unfortunately I don't know if you can do this after spray basting, since I have never done that.
Several options have been given to you. I think the best one is to take off the borders and reattach after cutting them down to the correct size. This sounds like a lot of work, but in the end you're fixing the problem rather than trying to deal with the aftermath. Unfortunately I don't know if you can do this after spray basting, since I have never done that.
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