Piano Keys for part of border
#1
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 3
Piano Keys for part of border
My Christmas quilt measures 85" x 65". It is made of sixteen 15.5" square blocks (4 blocks x 4 blocks) and a top and bottom header that go with the fabric. I have wanted to do a piano keys border for a while, and want to do one for this quilt. As my bed measures 78" x 72", I don't know what width and height would look good. I'm assuming I will have to add another border, too. If I add 20" to the length, that would be 105"; adding 20" to each side would be a width of 105", but I can't have 20" long piano keys, can I?? So, how long and wide SHOULD the keys be, and what other kind of border can I use below or above the piano keys border? OR, is this not a good quilt to use them on???
Any suggestions welcome!
Thanks,
Ann
Any suggestions welcome!
Thanks,
Ann
#3
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 11,276
It's hard to suggest borders without a photo of the quilt so far. To add that much size (20"), I personally would add another row of blocks all the way around, then a 5" piano key. There are no hard and fast rules for a piano key border, but I would say about half the size of the block is a usually the max size you would want to go, so in your case, around 7 or 8 inches. The piano key is normally the last border on the quilt. So you have about 12 inches to fill. You can do a series of smaller pieced borders for a medallion quilt look, or you can find a 12" block you like. I think 12" of plain fabric borders might be a bit too much, but maybe with interesting prints it might be OK. Need to audition it. If you do go with a pieced inner border, you can size your keys so the seams line up with the edges of the border blocks, or put a narrow stop border then your keys. One thing for sure is to put a row of stay stitching around 1/8" from the outer edge of your piano key border so it doesn't pull apart when being handled while quilting.
#5
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Southern California
Posts: 19,127
I would add another row of blocks to the quilt. You want your top to be at least as large as the top of your mattress if not larger. I never used a border larger than 8" when I made queen size quilts. As long as your quilt measurements are divisible by 2, that will make you piano keys a nice 2" finished size.
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