Originally Posted by
luvstoquilt
I agree with Tartan. Also, I own several quilts from the 1930’s and some have borders.(green, blue or bubblegum pink). Personally I think the border makes the blocks stand out more.
I agree. I have a few vintage quilts that all happen to have borders, but I'm not sure about their age and I don't have an applique quilt. I tend to think that quilters had a lot of leeway to border or not based on how big they wanted their quilts to be and how much matching fabric was available. There may have been other influences like what part of the country they lived in and the habits of their particular quilt group. I don't think you'd be doing it wrong either way, and anyway, your generation counts, too, in this process.