So... are they International Harvester, or Allis Chalmers?..lol When you are getting ready to cross stitch these you can spray starch them to get them to hold shape a little better, or you can put a VERY light interfacing on the back. they will shrink a little when you wash them.. a peril of the pre-printed square nowadays. They just aren't as good a fabric as they used to be. If you have others to do.. I'd just ignore the border all together.. it usually just washes out in the end. I wouldn't even worry about it showing.