Fabric not long enough for borders
 

Hi All,

I haven't made a quilt for about 10 years I followed the pattern for measurements of required material but when cutting strips as per pattern the fabric isn't long enough it is about 2 inches short.

What have I done wrong when buying the fabric and how can I fix this problem?

That's hard to tell where you "went wrong" without actually looking at the fabric, pattern, and quilt top, there are so many possibilities:
* The pattern could be wrong. Sometimes the designer will post errata to their website (if they have one), can you check?
* If you prewashed the fabric, it may have shrunk
* Your cutting or your rulers may be off, especially if you're measuring your cuts with your cutting mat and not your ruler
* Your seams may be inaccurate
* A combination of these factors, or others I can't think of at the moment....

How experienced a quilter are you? Can you post a picture of the quilt, and also the name of the pattern, or a link to the pattern?

Hi Peggi,

I haven't quilted for about 5 or so years, I am just cutting out now with a clear ruler and rotary cutter. Here is the pattern I bought from etsy https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/4775...search_click=1

What fabric are you using for the borders? There are a couple of options for you.

Split the border and use a contrasting square or length in the middle section. This can add extra interest to the quilt. It can be done with pinwheel blocks, four patch, et.

For small prints, you can piece the border. I would use a straight seam and match the prints across the seam.

Of course, if the fabric is still available, you can purchase more.

Good luck!

You could also use that fabric for a narrow inner border and another fabric as an additional border.

Put in cornerstones on all four corners. That would be the easiest fix. But I would put aside the borders for the moment, and finish the center of the quilt before carefully measuring and then cutting or adjusting the borders.

I was thinking the same thing that hopefully you have a piece or two left over from making the quilt that you could split the border and put a 2 1/2" piece in the middle. They don't have to be the same colors for the top and bottom. Lovely quilt btw.

A fast simple fix would be to add squares in the corners (cornerstones) as GingerK suggested. Solid squares would look great.

Whatever the reason for being short there are options to finish your quilt. As someone mentioned add a block in the center of each border or at each corner, I've had to do that. Add something unique in the border at certain locations to make it your own version.

Nothing says you have to follow the pattern completely.

Hi, closej and welcome! It's exciting to get back to quilting but not so exciting when you take a nose dive. Feeling your pain.
So, I'm looking at the link. The quilt pattern I see is Cleared for Takeoff and finishes at 41 inches square. Looks like there are two borders, an inner border of white and outside border of a blue windowpane check. At 41 inches I'm estimating the outer border is 3 inches wide and the inner is 1 1/2 inches wide. And the blocks are 8 inches.
I'd do one of two things;
Change the inside border, either switch it out with the blue which would allow you enough fabric, or decrease its width to a half inch so you have made up the two inches.
The other idea is to stay with the blue outside border, make some blue cornerstones, then on either side of the cornerstones (between the cornerstone and the border piece) insert a four patch block just like in the quilt.
Basically, think of ideas that would be in keeping with the original design and build on that.
Also, remember how potato chips were invented. A French chef botched a recipe. Thoroughly frustrated and pressured for time, he followed a whim and threw potato slices in a pot of hot oil. Mistakes make opportunities.

You could put corner stones in each corner the size of your border or you could just split your border and add back ground fabrics or other fabrics you have used in the quilt. I think someone else on her suggested that and it would work great. Good luck to you and please don't get discouraged. Also, sometimes your seam allowance is not the same as the maker of the pattern.

I would insert a little piece of fabric that coordinates with the quilt in the borders with maybe a small appliqued something to go with the quilt appliques. You could make it as long as you want to make up for the shortage that you have. You could even insert more than one on each border...staggering them in different places on the borders. Hope this makes sense.

Maybe buy an extra 1/4 or 1/2 Yard more of fabric you will be using for borders - next time.

Extra fabric will insure you may have enough.

Welcome from outside St. Louis, MO.

It says the finished quilt is 41" x 41", so the usual 42" of fabric selvege to selvege should work. I have a bad habit of not reading the directions beforehand, and once I cut the pieces for the top, read the directions later, and ended with too short a piece left (I could have cut a different direction and would have been fine). In my case it was a kit, so this mattered! You can carefully piece the border if you have enough to work with.

Thanks Everyone