Cattitude

I am not a huge border fan but have ended up with 4 quilt tops with 5” borders (making use of pre-cut impulse buys and needed to add borders to make the quilt tops large enough).

I have quilted two of the borders with continuous feathers and they turned out okay. I loved how quick the feathers went down and was tempted to use them again but want to challenge myself a bit. I have spent hours on-line looking at pictures and tutorials but often you can’t tell what is going on in the border.

Any suggestions for an alternative to the feathers would be greatly appreciated.

I guess I would label myself a confident beginner. Quilting on my Janome 8900QCP. Both border fabrics are fairly busy so will be reasonably forgiving.

nativetexan

search online for quilt designs on borders. there are lots on Pinterest. that might help give you ideas.

Boston1954

Do you have anything particular in mind? I love leaves! Big, small, and in-between. Also, I have to say one time, I went with a theme. The body of one of my quilts had dolphins in it, so I put waves in the border. It looks great.

quiltsRfun

Here’s one I like.

Quilt30

Suggest you look at on line catalogs from The Stencil Co and Quilting Creations International and their border designs. Other sources don’t have designs organizes as these two. Select something in a 4 or 4.5 inch size that compliments your tops.

stitch678

[ATTACH=CONFIG]611913[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]611914[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]611915[/ATTACH]Here are 3 ideas for simple designs.You can lengthen or widen to suit your border.

quiltingshorttimer

if you are thinking maybe a more masculine quilt, or more modern, then I'd recommend checking out some of Angela Walters designs--there are several that are more geometrical and fairly easy to do . dividing the border into 4 or 5" sections (chalk them) make them pretty darn easy.

JanieW

There some good ideas on this video. She shows you how to do the corners which is always my Achilles heel.

https://youtu.be/gLxsfgM2E4w

Cattitude

Thanks, in particular I love the idea of laying the clear vinyl over your quilt! I will definitely try that.

Cattitude

I used waves in the sashing of another quilt that had a mermaid theme....though not as neat as yours.....
I like the the density of the feathers and how they fill the entire border. I guess I was looking for something else that would have the same qualities.