Originally Posted by carrieg
I took a class last year and made a quilt that had a 1/4" black border surrounding each block. (Never again!)
The teacher suggested we cut the black strips at 1" instead of 3/4". Sew them on with the regular 1/4" seam. Then from the back, line up your ruler on the seam line and trim to the correct size. It did make it easier to cut and easier to sew on.
Another way to approach those skinny borders would be to fold a 1" wide strip in half and sew onto the edge of your block. The fold won't be stitched down, but it's so narrow it's not going to stick out. Then you get your border but don't have to trim any off and you aren't fighting w/ working w/ such a narrow strip with a seam on each long edge. I've used a 1" up to 1 1/2" wide strip for a finished 1/4 - 1/2" border. I don't know if this would work for wider than a 1/2" border, tho.