Okay, everyone...I need a little help here. I am doing another bargello. The colors I have picked for it is blues...light to dark to black. I am going to do a small border in red. We did pick out a larger border that has compasses, kind of Navy related with a light tan background. However, the light tan is NOT working with the blues in the bargello. It might be ok with the red smaller border, but I am not thrilled wiht it yet. I dont have the red for the smaller border yet.

How do you pick your borders, light or dark? Do you prefer one over the other? This is another quilt I am making for a long time friend of ours that will be retiring from the Navy. So we were trying to make it Navy/nautical/ocean like.

I really don't know but....I do know that if you aren't happy now then you probably won't be happy later. At least that is what I found with my quilts. But sometimes they do look better when they are finished too. Best of luck, I think either way they are going to love it. Bargello are super neat. :-)

Sometimes I wait until the body of the quilt is completed and then audition borders. At times it turns out to be a fabric that I would never have guessed would look good. With all the colors in a bargello, you have a lot of choices.
Sue

Hard to say without seeing your quilt. But I personally do not have any hard and fast rules. Sometimes I know before I start the quilt what I want for a border. If I'm unsure, I wait until I'm done and then figure that out.

My small inner borders are ususlly what I call a "Zinger". It stops the eye and pops out from the rest of the quilt. Your outer border sounds great and seems to pull everything together. It's hard to give opinions without a picture, though. Your avitar borders seem to work well, so I think that you have a good eye for colors.

You are right, I should have posted pictures of this...The red border is just to see if we liked it or not. I like the red small border, makes it pop. The larger border is the one in question.

Also, I am debating on whether to applique bright colored fish on to the quilt top, not many just three or so...

What's everyone think?

I'm not sure about the border either, but what would it look like if you used green (it looks like kind of a lime green in the border print) for your small border instead of the red? That might not work at all, but it might pull it all together. Worth a try!

I love the idea of a few fish swimming across your quilt, very clever :D
The border fabric is a little busy to me, it draws my eye away from the beautiful bargello :D:D:D

I always go with a darker outside border, silly I know, but I consider the border a frame, and I like dark frames. It sets off what's inside.

I would put a narrow, like 2", navy blue border first and then I think your fabric would work ok.

when choosing borders---light vs. dark the final quilt does make the decision...a dark border is going to stop the quilt and frame it--
a light border will extend the design and move it out to the edges.
so...when you have the bargello part finished you will have to look at it and decide...stop it now, and frame it... (dark border) or allow the design to expand out to the edges ... (light border)
either way does usually work on most any quilt...just have to decide which you like best for the one you are working on.

Thank you everyone! I got a different larger border and a different small border. When I get it completed, I will post pictures! :o)