I make what is called a 'flange' border....done by jinny beyer as a 'zinger'.... cut 1 inch wide, sew all strips together and then fold in half. do not press at this point. now match the raw edges to your quilt raw edge, stacking all edges together. use a 1/4 inch foot, but sew just beyond the 1/4 inch measurement (scant 1/4).... now apply the next border and turn the entire thing over so that you can see the previous stitching and this time stay ON the 1/4 inch mark. that's why you flipped it...so you can see the first stitch line and stay inside, toward the quilt with your 1/4 inch mark... can you sew all 4 layers together at once? certainly, but i have found the difference in accuracy to be worth doing it this way. it is easy to waver away from that straight line when you can't see the little 1/2 inch folded flange...if you can see it, it will be straight. How to treat the corners?..... the flange corners are so small that they really don't show so i sew each border on separately and just overlap, clipping off after finishing each side ... it will not show that they are not really joined. and they are small enough not to hurt anything... the raw edges are secure so they're fine. Machine quilting? if you are going to machine quilt your quilt, the flanges can present a bit of a problem to someone using a pantograph where they are not watching the top of the quilt all the time. So I have started setting my machine to a very large stitch length, then loosen the top tension by 1 number, use a contrasting thread (this is where I get out the old spools...baste with rotten thread if possible.... ) and topstitch the edge of the flange...now it will go thru the longarm/FMQ process perfectly and you only have to pick out the edge stitch when it comes back from the quilter. then you will have a tiny bit of 3D effect, the color relief you were looking for and it will be straight and easy to do... I put them in most of my quilts as I love the textural difference they make. It was one of my favorite things i learned from
Jinny Beyer's Color Confidence for Quiltersby Jinny Beyer(Oct 1992)... one of the best quilt books around for colorplay and how to achieve it...for my money...i have had it since it came out new and it is still one of the books i refer back to periodically just for a refresher...