I am doing a disappearing 9 patch quilt out of 5" charm packs. I am making this 5 blocks wide and 6 rows long, then I am going to do an inner border of about 2 1/2 inches. My question is: I'd like to either sew the 5" blocks together for the outer border or cut them in half...kind of like the piano key, but not sure how to make sure it works out. In other words, make sure nothing has to be cut off at the ends because it ends up too long. I hope this makes sense. How can I figure that part out? I've always just done plain borders, but would like to try something different.

WHAT IS A DISAPPEARING 9 PATCH QUILT, NOT SURE I HAVE SEEN ONE, NEW TO THIS ......SOUNDS LIKE IT MIGHT B AN EASY QUILT TO DO. I WOULD CUT THEM IN THIRDS AND GIVE U MORE AND WOULD B A GOOD SIZE. THEN U WOULD HAVE MORE OF A VALUE AND NOT JUST TWO BIG CHUNKS, KNOW WHAT I MEAN. I AM SURE SOMEONE WILL HELP FOR SURE, JUST MY THOUGHT BUT I DO NOT KNOW MUCH....... :lol:

You sew a regular 9 patch block together. Then you cut it in half horizonally and vertically, switch the blocks around, and you can't see the 9 patch. Try searching it on this board, and you will see many pictures. It is very easy to do.

OK - what I'm reading is similar to my photo attached.

Are you trying to do the outside border, then just a row of blocks around the outside? Maybe cut the blocks in half and orient them length wise like small strips or orient them like piano keys?

Or, are you trying to put sashing between the blocks?

I will put a plain border of about 2 1/2 inches first. For the outside border I would like to do piano keys or just sew different 5" blocks together, but trying to figure out how to make it come out even, so it's just the right size.

To come up with the border widths for my quilt top, I MEASURED like crazy to make sure:
1) There is enough material of the color I'm using for the border
2) There is enough width for the border I'm attaching - I made sure to calculate the raw width x 4 plus one more strip to handle seams or use 4 blocks to handle corners.

So, start with your corners and determine how they should look (mitered, straight edge, rounded), then measure the length on each side and the width on the top and bottom. Now you can create a border strip that is that length plus seams for each piece a bit more. Then, lay the border out next to your quilt and it should come together.

Do a search of borders at the top of the page to get the exact details of how to measure to add on borders.

Don't cut the 2 1/2" inner border yet.
What I would do is figure out the length of the piano key border first. It might be easier to actually sew it first.
If you cut your charm squares in half, you get 2.5" pieces. Subtract 1/2" for the seams and your border should wind up being a multiple of 2" Plus 1/2" for the end seams.

Now measure your quilt. Instead of the 2 1/2" border, cut this piece the size you need to make it the size of your piano key border, plus 1/2 inch for the seams. This inner border is actually called a coping strip.

If you like pieced borders, you should get the "Border Workbook" by Janet Kime. She has dozens of border patterns and instructions on how to make the borders fit your quilt.

I posted this a couple of days ago: The till roll border was posted by one of the members here and it is the greatest tip ever for borders IMO :thumbup:

very pretty.