i dont have enough border material
 

i was always told not to make straight seams on borders to do diagonal seams..i am doing 7 3/4 border if i do diagonal seams i will lose to much material and not have enough...is it ok to make a straight seam..my corner pinwheels are 7 3/4 thats why my border is that wide

I think it depends on the fabric. Some prints are very easy to match with a straight seam, and you can hardly see the seam. Solids look just fine (to me) with a straight seam.

tartan..i thought of the pinwheel in the center but didnt take into account the size just measured to the middle and didnt subtract 7 3/4 for the pin wheel ... with new calculations i might just make it ..its a big quilt i dont have a place to lay it to take pics

I think straight seams are fine.

There's nothing wrong with a straight seam...it's just a preference of some people. Do what works for you!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]481150[/ATTACH]
this is my border material

I always do straight seams. I'd just go for it!

thank you now i can stop panicking

straight is just fine dont worry about the quilt police

If you put in a pinwheel, that would be a straight seam wouldn't it? So stop stressing and do what you have to do to finish the quilt. I have used both and they were fine. I have even used straight seams to join pieced binding if it looks better.

Straight seams tend to break the eye if breaking the eye is important. Sometime it matters and sometime it doesn't.
If entering the quilt in a show it may be an important consideration.

I just did straight seams because it was a varigated fabric and it had to flow continuously. BTW - the directions said to! ha ha

To me, it matters whether the blocks are set straight or on point. With a lot of straight 90 degree seems, the angled border seam would be more eye-catching.

hugs,
Charlotte

I've always used straight seams on borders, unless I could avoid a seam altogether (which is my preference, but sometimes that just doesn't work out!).

So far nobody has died from it, and none of my quilts have burst into flame. ;-)

I think it probably only matters if the quilt is to be judged. I doubt a non-quilter would ever notice the seam either way.

This is something I had never heard before. I have always used straight seams and they work just fine.

Seems I remember reading somewhere (probably here or Quiltville) . Borders 3 inches or less look better joined on an angle, wider borders joined with a straight seam. So that as always been my general rule of thumb unless my amount fabric tells me otherwise.

I've found that most of the "rules" of quilting are really just suggestions. You're creating it, you're the designer......it's your call. I'd say if you can make it fit with straight seams, go for it.

I use straight seam a lot and they seem to work out well. Try sewing 2 pieces of scrap fabric together, press and see how the seam looks. If it looks OK to you go for it.

Straight is fine and I find it more dependable to keep the border laying flat. The eye will follow the quilting pattern, not the seams.

I NEVER pieced my borders with diagonal seams. That sound like something the quilt police would say. Most quilts I made were for competition, For queen size quilts, I always bought the length of the quilt and that would be enough for the borders and the binding.

Once you quilt it, the border seams won't really be as noticeable anyway. I always use straight seems if I need extra length to a border.

But what "looks better" is in the eye of the beholder! So that's the opinion of the author, but I don't necessarily share it.

As a quilter, if I saw a diagonal seam on a border it would probably draw my eye, because I would be wondering why the quilter went to the extra effort to put a diagonal seam there!

I always heard that if the border was over 3" not to sew it on the diagonal anything less than that is fine.

Straight seams are fine. Depending upon how you quilt it it , the straight seams vs. mitre corners won't even be noticed.

i use straight seams all of the time... but none of my quilts are show quilts LOL

I do straight all the time, it's okay!

I do straight seams. I like them better!

I do straight seams all the time as well...not only one or two seems, but sometimes dozens of straight seems when I make a pieced border.

I make straight seams on a wider border. Diaginal seems take up too much facric. on thinner inner borders I will make diaginal seams- Why???? not sure! After you get the quilt done you will not be able to tell if the seam is straight or diaginal. also I do ot match patterns/prints unless it is a stripe

I agree - don't listen to the quilt police. I did use diagonal seams on my 8" border and lo and behold ran out of fabric. So, I had to trim my border to about 4" since my remaining fabric was 4" wide. That way, at least I could finish the quilt. I was quite surprised how much fabric the diagonal join used! I'll use straight seams from now on.

I never do diagonal seams in the borders. #1 it wastes a lot of fabric and #2 it creates stretch where you least want it.

I have always made straight seams also. I am sure the other way would make it too eye catching. In fact I can never remember ever seen in done the other way.

I have done straight seams many times. I think it is up to the quilter

Go for the straight seam...you are the only one who will know.

put in cornerstones and if that isn't enough, add another block like the cornerstone in the middle of each border, or use three in a row of your blocks. There are a dozen ways to "stretch" your border fabric. Do what you need to do to make it work.

Straight border seams work for me. I only use diagonal seams for making the binding strip to save the "lumps" at the edges of the quilt I'm finishing. If you are afraid your eye will be drawn to a straight border seam, press it open so that it will pretty much disappear when it is quilted. I will admit that I do try not to place any border seams opposite one another. Equally placed border seams seem to draw attention to themselves. If they are staggered, they don't seem to so much. Make sense?

Heavens yes, a straight seam with that fabric is fine. But what I have done in certain circumstances if I've had to piece a border that I would rather not have to piece, is to insert a piece of some of the patterned fabric I've use in the quilt, usually only 1-2" wide, and make it look like a "design decision" rather than a place where I really didn't want to seam the border. Also I've pieced several of the fabrics from the inside of the quilt that are about 1/2" wide and pieced to make a section about 2" wide and inserted that. It ends up looking interesting, and makes the seamed area part of the design.

I cannot find a reason not to use straight seams. I use diagonal seams on my bindings to eliminate bulk, but that should not be an issue on a border. Sometimes I miter my borders to enhance a design, but even that is optional.

Another straight seamer here! The other thing I like to do to stretch the fabric when I don't have quite enough, as others have said, is to insert blocks into it. My favorite way is to put extras in the corners diagonally opposite from one another: top left and bottom right I might do cornerstones and then add 2 more of that same block to each side of it with a same sized section of border fabric between them. Or a row of 3 or 4 of the cornerstone blocks starting left top and going down, then right bottom going up.
I really like doing this with kaleidascopes when I can then use some of the smaller scraps in the cornerstones.