Hi, I am a beginning quilter and am having trouble deciding what fabric to use when wanting to add two borders to my quilt top. (solid, patterned, striped etc).

Are there any rules of thumb anyone could share with me? Or at least the thought process you use to decide? I understand it is personal preferance but.....

Also are there standard sizes for borders?

Thanks in advance!

This forum is the best!
Donna

Welcome to the board from Southern California!

There are no rules. I usually prefer two borders. I will use something contrasting as a narrow border anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2" and then a wider border of the main focus fabric if I have it. I personally don't like really wide borders. I will usually go with a 4 or 4 1/2" to 6" outer border. It depends on how much quilting you want to do in the border. A lot of this is personal preference or what you have enough fabric to do. I can't tell you how many times I have measured my remaining fabrics and once I figured how many strips I need I divide the whole piece buy the number of strips and that is how wide the borders are.

I audition possible choices and choose the one I like best or best suites the quilt and who it will be going to. All personal preference. Often my size is determined on how big I want the quilt to finish out. I seldom use a pattern as printed. I know this is not much help but bottom line....do what you like:)

Part of the time it's necessity. What is the size of your pieced top & how big do you want it to be? I really think your best bet is to go to the pictures section of this board and look at the quilts posted there and take a good look at the borders. You'll probably find that you are drawn to wider (or narrower) borders etc. It's a matter of personal preference. A common practice (but not a standard) is to start with a narrow solid border right next to the piecing to frame it. One thing to keep in mind is to square up the quilt then measure it in the center and cut your border to that size. Don't just cut a big long strip and sew it on & cut off the excess! This way your quilt will keep in shape.

I was told or I read somewhere, that your borders should be divisible evenly by the size of your blocks. Like a 10" block would use a border like 2", 5", 1". A 12" block would use a border like 6," 4", 3" 2", 1", or a combination of those. Or.....you could use any size you like. <grin>

I love stripes in borders or binding. I think a small 1" or 2" border in a stripe is very effective.

Thanks for all the great advise! I will put it to good use. LOL

Welcome!!

I've not heard this before, but it makes sense. Will keep this in mind the next time I work on a border! Thanks for posting this.

Mine is determined by the quilt. I just did one that was all 6" squares that formed 12" blocks, so I did a 6" border. I'll lay the quilt on the (clean) floor, lay out the border, and then adjust it so I can audition the different sizes. So I'll see how it looks, if it's too big, I'll scoot it a little more under the quilt so I can see a thinner border. Does that make sense?

Consider the border or borders to be the "frame" around the picture. What do you think will enhance the center of the quilt.