help - border quilting - easing in template design?
 

i just rounded the second corner on this quilt and where i squished the template last time, i thought - okay - four cables out from the corner i elongated the centre of the design by half an inch, which when i laid the template on the quilt should have brought me comfortably to the corner and made for a nice smooth integration with the corner design.

it didn't. now i have one corner with a squished cable section and one with an elongated cable section that looks worse than the squish. i've never had so much trouble with border designs in my life. this is a simple two cord amish cable from pepper corey's book. it shouldn't be this hard to fit it, but i am doing something really wrong.

is the answer here to draft the whole border first, before quilting at all? i tend to draw the stencil as i go because the marks just wear off in the time it takes me to get there. i quilt with a hoop, so the fabric is constantly rubbing against itself.

and because murphy loves quilting, both of these "errors" are along the top of the stupid thing where hiding them under the label would just be silly.

i am so frustrated. i know you guys have the answers. please share.

and because we love pictures so, i enclose the completed label. i need to make sure it gets done before the calendar flips and at this rate...well..

thanks :)

aileen

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It sounds like you are hand quilting? When I used to do that, I did mark the entire thing first. But like you say, it's hard to keep the marks on there. So what you could try is instead of putting all the markings on first, divide up the space evenly, so you know which sections to stretch and which to squish. Then you can mark each section as you have been doing, but you know it will come out evenly.

For marking the divisions, maybe you could use safety pins (if they won't get in the way of the hoop), or what about just one or two stitches of colored thread (like a basting stitch) that can be pulled out when you no longer need it.

Andi

I would cut a sheet of freezer paper the length of one side border. Cut another sheet the length of the other border -- plus some extra for overlap -- and mark where the border stops. Iron the second sheet onto the first sheet where the overlap is. At this point you have several options. One would be to fold each border exactly in half, in half again, and again until you get sections that are approximately the size of your cable. I would use the template to draw the corner onto the freezer paper. You could also draw the template on each section to show you how to space (whether to squeeze or elongate), you could use the pattern to place registration marks on the quilt's edge (or use pins to mark), etc.

You can/could do two things.
First...you can use the stencil and mark from the corners to the center. And elongate or sqush at the center of each side. This way the sides and the ends would adjust the same and have balance even if the sides and ends would not be the same.
Second...cut paper the length of the side and end. Fold it in half and then again. Mark the stencil from a corner to one or two of those sections. If the stencil/cable does not alight to one of the folds you will know how much you have to adjust each motif in the design.. For instance if you mark to the first fold and the motif is 3/4 inch either way and there are 3 full cables in the section you need to enlarge or reduce each motif 1/4 inch. Don't adjust the corner, but mark to the center of the cable and move the stencil 1/4 inch either to enlarge or reduce to make it fit into the space. The sides adjustment may be different than the ends but the eye will not see the difference because each cable is the same. This may be shown on The Stencil Co blog under Co mingle. There are episodes from the Quilter'tv show titled Quilt As Desired. I don't ever recommend marking border designs before testing first for any adjustments. I would have written thus before but I was under the impression all the border was quilted.

I agree with Holice. Particularly with cables and handquilting, I start marking in the corners. I will do 2 (either top/bottom or sides) corners first and at least roughly see where the stencil will/won't match up and adjust accordingly. Then follow suit for the other quadrant. I will still usually begin quilting in the center of that border and might have to fudge a little but not so that it's very noticeable. I also usually mark as I go and quilt in a hoop. Sometimes it's worth marking all the borders in advance and just fill in the markings enough as you go along so you can see them. At least with it all marked you have registration marks to go by.

argh. this was such a ridiculous mistake. :(

i have done borders more than a few times in my quilting life.

it's like my brain just exited stage left, pursued by bear.

thanks for your help :)

aileen

Agree - recently pulled a lot of hair out quilting a cable border. I figured it out half way through - corners first and fudge a little somewhere in the middle. It turned out pretty well when all was said and done.

where is borntohandquilt? she would most likely know. I don't do a lot of hand stitching but have seen some put in basting stitches in grid form. Good luck.

Don't have any suggestions, but I feel your pain.

Alison