If this beauty was mine, I would do whatever it takes to maintain the original design of the borders. If doing the bias binding intimidates you, then by all means, hire someone else to do it for you. Again, if this were mine, I think I would back it and bind it with a muslin material, and probably use cotton batting. This is definitely a quilt that is begging to be finished, both for its historical value, and to honor the original quiltmaker for her hard work to make it looks beautiful. You have a treasure there, enjoy it
