I inherited a couple of "utility" quilt tops from my Grandmother's Aunt Edith, which I would like to finish. One of the tops is a Granny Square block made of 2 1/4" finished blocks. Except for the muslin setting blocks, the blocks are fabrics from scraps of old shirts. In the spirit of "making do", many of the squares are themselves pieced. It was hand-pieced and made before 1956.
The problem with the quilt is that the half-square triangles that border the quilt are too small, generally leaving no seam allowance. Aunt Edith's "making do" attitude meant that she took the same size muslin blocks she used elsewhere in the quilt and cut them in half to attach at the border. In addition to leaving no seam allowance, it also means the entire edge is on the bias.
Should I just finish it "as is", carefully trying to minimize the stretch from the bias edges and recognizing that all the points on the edge will be cut off when I bind it?
Or should I remove all those half square triangles and replace them with ones which are both correctly sized to include a seam allowance and don't have the bias on the outside edge?
If I replace the outside triangles, should I try to match the muslin (which is always hard) or go with an entirely different fabric?
Thanks for you help with this.
