Border issue
 

I've noticed that somehow my borders tend to not be straight when I'm finishing my quilt. It's not a very pronounced problem, but I'd like to know if anyone has an idea why this might be happening. I square things up pretty carefully, and yet the corners tend to bend out. If you look at this panel quilt, you can see in the upper right hand corner, the orange border is not at a right angle, but is a bit distorted. Any thoughts about how I managed to do this?
Thanks in advance.

It is so cute!

I do see what you are talking about - and as you said its not very pronounced. I don't have any answers as I have done this myself so I will be watching for what answers you receive

your quilt is adorable!

when you say the "orange border" are you talking about the border between the 2 blues or the binding? Was this a panel? I find that many panels are not printed totally square on the fabric or stretch when wrapped on the bolt. So even when you square up the panel by the design, the threads may not be squared and then when you quilt it pulls it a little more off square.

Very cute quilt though!

I'm talking about the border between the 2 blues. I squared the panel before I put the orange border on it, but the orange seems to have distorted somehow when I added the dark blue border. This has happened to me with other quilts as well.

Squaring is not something I do well, so unless the quilt is very distorted, I leave it. I have noticed that quilts made after I got my accuquilt cutter are more square, though.

When you are putting on borders you need to take the measurement from the centre of your quilt. Cut your border this length. Ease the border into the sides of the quilt top. This will keep your borders and your quilt square.

This happens to me every single time too. Like yours, the corners seem to stretch out a little. My quilts usually have 3 borders. I square off the corners of each border before I attach the next one. I think the strips just stretch out from the process of sewing.

Measuring for the borders is very important and those measurements do need to be done in the centers of the quilt. Repeat for each direction and for each additional border. Cut the border section and pin it to your quilt starting in the center of each side. Then sew it. You get the distorted corners when you sew lengths of borders to quilt without pinning. The fabric on the bottom (feed dog side) when sewing always take up more fabric than the top (needle side). You prevent this by pinning carefully from the center. If I am doing a long border I divide the quilt and the border in quarters.

First panels are very hard to straighten. Have you tried cutting your last border the LENGTH of the fabric? I always cut long outside borders this way. Also once it's washed it will be less noticeable. It's too cute of a panel for anyone to notice but you.

See? you did such a lovely applique job, they all think you used a panel,lol! l find that cutting the border fabric on the length of grain ( instead of wof) works best. Then, follow the 'measure center, pin/ease' advice offered earlier. If you take a strip of fabric cut wof,and pull, you will see how much 'give' ther is...take same length strip cut lengthwise...nothing!

Do you stitch in opposite directions? So stitch from the top to the bottom when doing the right side orange border and then bottom to top when doing the blue border. so that each strip is stitch in the opposite direction. Does that make sense?

It looked fantastic as I galloped by!!! Don't stress!!

If I'm making a very precise quilt I fuse feather light interfacing to the borders before sewing to the quilt. Especially narrow ones. A top prize winning quilter at Paducah told me she used misty fuse interfacing on her quilt top and backing before quilting to keep it smooth and square. She said that was normal for show quilts. I don't use it on the quilt tops or backing but it works wonders for my borders.

The center measurement has already been given as the answer to the problem... so I'll just add how adorable I think your quilt is! And I don't see the slightly bent border as detracting in any way from the overall look.

I've had problems with my narrow borders sometimes when they are not cut exactly straight. For me, minor wonkyness seems to be enhanced with a narrow border, (and it's easier to get them wonky when they are narrow). I've had luck doing some easing when attaching the next wider border and then pressing the narrow border flat. Of course, you need to measure the wider border using the width at the center of the quilt.

Your quilt is adorable! Is there a pattern for it?

It's a panel from which I removed the original borders and put my own. Thanks!

Now wait a minute. You removed the borders and put your own on. How did you do that? The trees, birds and rhino overlap the borders. As to the corners--I suppose as someone else mentioned, cutting those strips on the length might be one good solution. I cut mine on the cross and they do the same as yours. I think, too, the quilting makes a difference. Don't fret over it, it's not noticeable unless it's going to be a wall hanging and time will take care of it. This is adorable!

When you measure for your borders, make sure you measure through the center of the quilt, not down the sides, to allow for any stretching that has occurs. You can then ease in any stretch as you add your borders. I always pin on my borders before sewing to make sure I work in any stretch evenly. Once the borders are added, before I square up, sandwich and quilt, I stitch around the outside edge of my quilt top with a straight stitch to prevent any stretching. I stitch just under 1/4 inch from the edge so that the stitching will either be cut off during the squaring process or hidden by the binding.

Uneven areas are what bring "character" and artistic expression to a quilting project. this looks adorable as is - I don't think I'd give it any thought really, it looks like it's a natural choice!

Just curious, do they straighten out and lay down after washing and drying?

Sew your borders together , press, and then attach and square.

I used fusible web and cut around the overlap pieces and then satin stitched them down on the new borders because I really hated the borders that came with it. I don't mind how this piece looks (it will be a wall hanging, actually, but I think the unevenness doesn't hurt the look); I just want to know how to avoid this problem in the future. I think there's a lot of good advice here on how to be more precise and it's all of these ideas taken together that lead to a good outcome. Thanks!

Yes, the quilt is square--I keep squaring it up as I go. It's just the corners bend a bit.

I lay my quilt on the floor or flat surface and lay two border strips down the center. I then trim the 2 border pieces the same length as the quilt. I then pin from the center out, and ease in where necessary. It's quick and you don't need to measure the borders. Works for me.

Sometimes, when I am sewing a long seam, as I get to the end, I kinda coast to the finish and sometimes my 1/4 in seam drifts off a bit. That could cause it to be out of square just a tad.

Carol, thank you for explaining how you did the panel over that first border--I kept looking at that and trying to figure it out--how very creative of you!

Thank you for this tip! I'm having trouble measuring long side borders and I can't wait to try this.

Do you remember if the border distortion was there before quilting?

Yes it was. I've since followed the advice given above: cutting the border strips along the lengthwise grain, and measuring the strips and cutting them to the middle dimensions. These worked perfectly and there was no distortion in my latest quilt. I love this list! I think I could cut across the WOF if I starch the fabric first--it would serve the same purpose of avoiding stretching.