Originally Posted by
mommafank
Why does measuring down the middle keep it from being wavy? I always need a scientific reason because it just does not make sense to me, but then I had problems with a border and wonder if this is why.
The center of the quilt is usually more stable than the outer edges. Sometimes the outer edges stretch, if we're not really careful about squaring up blocks and measuring each round of borders, a little bit more fabric may end up in each 'round' that is added to the quilt, resulting in a larger measurement on the outside edges than in the middle. By using the measurement of the middle, cutting our borders to that length, and then pinning the borders to the top, easing in any fullness, we can distribute the fullness instead of adding to it.
An example. I had a customer bring me a quilt where she had done the 'sew it on and hack off when you get to the end' method of attaching borders. Problem is, she had added SEVEN borders, only about an inch wide each. Even if her method had added only 1/2" extra with each of those borders, by the time she was done the outer edges of her quilt would have been 3-1/2" longer than the middle of her quilt. I actually think those outer borders were more like 5" longer!! She didn't want to re-do them, so I quilted it as is, with her understanding that I couldn't promise I wouldn't get pleats or puckers in the borders. I was able to manage without it looking too bad, but it was a lot more work for me, and more expensive for her.
Andi