Ripping borders out is Not my favorite thing to do
My sister asked me to long arm quilt a quilt she put together from some blocks our Mother made well before her death.
I laid the quilt out flat before I agreed to quilt it. It has a 4 inch border all around it, but it was wavy. My sister took the borders off and re-sewed them on. I said thanks and took it with me.
Yesterday, I put the quilt top on the long arm - the borders are still wavy! So I decided to take the borders off and give them one more try before quilting.
As I was ripping the first border seam out, I noticed that the seam was subtly puckered. It dawned on me that the waviness of the border might be related to that. Hmmmm.
When I sewed the first of the 4 border on for the third and last time, I pinned it at the seam and smoothed the outer edge (width) and the length of the entire border to be flat before the next pin went in. I've only done one border so far; that border is 1.75 inches too long!
My conclusion is that the thread tension was too high when the borders were sewn on, thus causing the subtle gathering of the fabric at the seam. As with intentional gathering, the outer edges of the border became wavy.
If I'm wrong about that, please tell me!
3 more borders to go...but I learned something, so it is (almost) worth it.