can this quilt be saved
 

I've been slowly making a scrappy quilt for a friend. Her DH told me they have a king size bed. Made a king size quilt top, then while visiting her checked her bed, it's a queen sized. Ripped some (alot) of blocks off to make a queen sized quilt. Made my backing, sadly it's only two inches bigger than top on all sides. I like at least 4 inches bigger on all sides. You guessed it I didn't have my borders on. Is there such a thing as a borderless quilt. I'm so done with this quilt. I think it's easier to start all over

You don't need to have a border on the quilt unless the quilt police are living with you. With many quilts I make, I eliminate the borders.

Not sure why, but I don't care for borders at all. Carry on.....

I have made many quilts with no borders. You do not have to have one. Take a deep breath and put on a nice binding that will frame it up. It will be just fine.

I agree, you don't need borders.

Thank you so much for helping me get over my snit. Never knew I could go borderless. I even rescued my extra blocks from the trash.LOL. I'm sure there's enough to almost made a charity quilt.

RMany of the " old" quilts did not have borders.

As far as that goes, they did not have bindings, either.

(What did they do, though? )

I prefer most quilts without borders---go for it!!

Pillowcase style?

I think about 75% of my quilts don't have borders.

Your quilt..YOUR rules. :)

Yes this! Borders are more current. I like most of my quilts with no or a minimal border.

Too many add borders just to make the quilt bigger. I would have given them the kind size as most queen size beds users prefer king size covers.

Looking at the W.Va. Quilt Project pictures I noticed that many old quilts had the top and backing both folded to the inside and whipped along the edges.

I think my Grandma B turned the outside edges in and then sewed about 1/8 to 1/4 inch from the edge. Sort of a top-stitch effect.

My Grandma B was very prolific at making "utility quilts,"

She may have been ahead of her time, though. She pieced the backs. The first Kaffe Fasset book made me think of Grandma B's quilts. (I thought some of them (Grandma B's )were extraordinarily ugly - but they did hold up and they were warm. She tied them.)

The quilts my gret-grandmother and grandmother made did not have borders. I can't think of a single quilt they did with borders. They also cut up clothing that still had 'good' spots to make the quilts. Sort of like what's being done now with Bonnie Hunter. No borders is good...it's how it used to be done. At least by my grams. (I use borders when I'm just done with a quilt and no longer want to piece.)

There are NO rules in quilting no matter what the quilt police say. So make it with or without borders as you please. It seems to be quite a trend right now to make quilts without borders so you would be right in style.

I always put borders on my quilts. Some have several to reach the size I need, others maybe just 1 2-1/2 to 3".
It is your quilt so you can make it however you want.

Funny...I have a quilt from MY Grandma B that is finished this way too! She did a variety of finishes - usually standard binding, but not always. This particular quilt is probably technically a blanket and not a quilt, as there doesn't appear to be any batting. (There might be a layer of flannel in there though, I can't tell.)

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*** Quilt Rule # 1
*** There are *NO* rules.
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*** Its Yours - Make it Your Way.
***

If you want the back to be larger than the 2" on each side, split the back at 1/3 or so and then add a strip of some of the blocks you removed from the top. They could be in a long line vertically or horizontally or both. What else could you do w/the extra blocks? On the back is logical to me.

Add the blocks you removed to increase the backing.

Depending on how high the bed is, you might consider leaving it at king size. When we had a queen sized bed I thought the queen quilts looked a little skimpy so I always used a king quilt or spread. But then, I like the to-the-floor look.

I have some quilts that were made in the late 20's from my dad's side of the family that have neither a border nor a traditional binding. The backing of the quilt was turned up and over the bind the quilt. There isn't a pattern on some of them either, just two or three (depending on the size) flour/sugar sacks sew together to make the top. I agree with Sewnoma your quilt your rules.

I checked out a book from the library recently by Julie Herman called Skip the Borders :D I thought the quilts looked nicer. So I say skip 'em!!

There are no borders on my mother & grandmother's quilts either. They were all scrappy. I like scrappy & hate making borders so I usually don't - just make more blocks. And they always folded over the back to the front for binding. I like that too.

Quilts do not always have to have borders. Too bad you had to "unsew" those blocks. I like to make my quilts a little larger - my first king size quilt was 110 x 110", as I wanted some of the quilt as my DH was a quilt hog. LOL. Also when asked to make a quilt for our DGD my DS and DDIL said she was getting a twin size bed. Well, fast forward to a month or two after finishing the quilt top (I had to take a break as I had shoulder surgery and couldn't quilt it), they changed their minds and put her into a full size bed. Imagine my joy when I measured the quilt, which already had border put on that it really was a full size bed, good thing as I was just finishing putting the binding on before we left to give it to her on Christmas Eve.

Are you quilting on a frame? I quilt most of my quilts with backing only 2" larger all around. If it's not enough, I sew an additional 2 or 3 inches all around the backing and then mount the quilt. When I'm done, the extra fabric is cut off anyway.

If you're not quilting on a frame, I can't think of a reason why the same technique wouldn't work for you.

Good luck!

Good idea.

I've already seen an old quilt that had the whole sandwich turned under to the back in a double hem. It wasn't very thick, perhaps had flannel or an old thin blanket as batting.

I would second the "don't worry too much about the size." As long as the quilt is not dragging on the floor, it's not too big. I made a quilt for my parents double bed that is technically king size, because at some point, one of the children or grandchildren will have it and will have a larger bed.

I have a book called Skip the Borders that has some beautiful quilts in it. It's your creation ... borders are at your discretion. :-)

Personally I think crazy quilts look better without borders, go for it!

You can take those extra blocks that you took off the top and put them on the back on the sides.

Kyia

So happy to hear the extra blocks got saved from the trash!