Originally Posted by daisyboo9
being new to quilting myself I find it easier to add boarders one at a time. I also love multiple boarders. I haven't mitered any corners yet but plan to with the next quilt. I tend to sew and cut off extra on each side if you know what I mean, that way I don't have any problems with wrong measurements that way.
I understand about the measurements, but the problem with doing it the way you describe is that there is a huge tendency to add more border than there is quilt. You can minimize this problem by sewing with the border fabric next to the feed dogs and by using a walking foot.
The advantage of measuring through the middle of the quilt and cutting the borders to exactly that length is that you don't end up with any ripples or "wonkiness" in the border. For example, if the left side of the quilt is an inch longer than the right side, you will have "matched" both sides of the quilt to the intermediate measurement (so that on one side the quilt will be eased in a half inch, while on the other side the border will be eased in half an inch). When you add the other sides the same way, you end up with a border that is square even if your quilt wasn't quite square when you started.
If your quilt isn't square to start with, and you just add fabric to each side, you will end up with a ruffled or wonky border. It isn't so bad when the border is narrow; the wider the border, the more exaggerated the wonkiness becomes.