Originally Posted by
RyanAmysMom
Sounds like a lot of quilt police on here! I agree that measuring the length of the middle of the quilt and adding borders that exact length is more accurate. But... I've had wavy borders that way because I had to "ease" them to fit.
I usually cut my borders about 6 inches too long, lay them RST flat on the quilt, and pin every few inches from the middle to the ends, never from top to bottom. At least that way I'm close....
Tell the quilt police to take a hike and do it your own way!
No QP the OP asked we answered and if you note my answer included the disclaimer that if you don't use a LAQ and you don't show, do it however you want.
It really only matters if you are putting the quilt on a rack to be quilted or you want to be judged at a show.
But if you DO use a LAQ or LA yourself and don't bother to measure the quilt for your borders and do not ease them in properly your odds of getting puckers, pleats or wrinkles in the quilting are greatly increased. Then we will see the post of someone lamenting how a LAQ "ruined" her quilt by putting a pleat in the border. Or ended up with with pucker somewhere because that excess fabric had absolutely no place to go.
There are usually reasons for assembling certain blocks, or parts of a quilt a certain way. QP has nothing to do with it. Would you also call someone who advises to strive in any way possible to get an accurate 1/4" seam allowance QP? It is no different.
On a side note by cutting your borders 6" too big then attaching and cutting off excess, you are totally defeating the purpose of measuring. You may be pinning but you are pinning with the wrong size and cutting off the excess so that is no different then just taking an unmeasured border and attaching it to the quilt. Again, if you are doing your own quilting on a DSM or hand quilting it doesn't matter. Just don't expect a LAQ to work miracles for you.