copycat

The quilt sandwich has been quilted and now its time to square it up. The outer border was approx. 4.5" in width.

A friend told me to use the outer border seam line as a guide to get the quilt square and the border the same width after quilting distorted it. First I had to find the narrowest part of the border around the 4 sides. The side with the narrowest border was the side to begin squaring up. I ended up placing the ruler on the outer border seam line at the 4" mark and squared up the first side using the standard method of placing a large square ruler on the corner and having the rulers meet down the side making sure the rulers were all on the 4" mark along the seam line. I did the same on the other 3 sides, thus ending with a 4" border.

Has anyone else squared up a quilt with a border this way?
Thanks for your input.

maminstl

I do that all the time.

toverly

That's the way I square up quilts also.

sandy l

That's the only way I can be sure.

tallchick

That's what I do and it works well for me, I just did this on a recent finish. I've always been pleased with the end results, especially on tops that were amongst my first; definitely not square and needed assistance in looking presentable.

QuiltnNan

that's the method i use also

bearisgray

I make sure my top is "square" and "flat" before I start the layering and quilting process.

Tartan

I never use the seam of the final border to square up my quilt. I square up all along the way but my final border is never perfect after quilting. If I square by the seam line, the final quilt when folded may not be square.

dunster

Are you talking about squaring the quilt (meaning it was not square to start with) or just removing the excess backing and batting after quilting? If the quilt is not square, then trying to square it using the outer border probably won't make it any more square. If the quilt is square and the outer border is square then your method makes sense.

copycat

I am talking about squaring up the quilt after it has been quilted as I remove the excess backing and batting.

When I make the quilt top, I square up the blocks before joining them in rows so I end up with a square quilt top.(or pretty close) I can see the outer border seam is straight so I can line up my rulers along it. Using the outer border seam as my guide allowed me to get a uniform border when I squared the quilt after quilting.

I usually use the raw edge of the quilt top to line up my rulers. Thank you all for your input.