No matter what I do, I can't get the @#%** borders to lay flat. They always have a bubble somewhere. I'd appreciate it if you folks would look over my process and tell me where I am going wrong. Here's what I've been doing for borders.

1. Press quilt with dry iron.
2. Measure quilt through middle (vertically and horizontally)
3. Add 2x width of that measurement and cut border strips to that length
4. Attach top and bottom borders
5. Attach side borders

One thing I have noticed is the difference cutting with the grain makes. I cut across the width of the fabric for the top and botton, and with the grain for the side pieces. The other thing is spray starch....use a lot of it on your fabric before you cut the borders.....especially the ones cut for the top and bottom. Then be careful not to stretch the fabric as you sew.....Good luck!! :-D

I always heard to put the sides on first, then the top and bottom.

I don't understand what you are doing in step #3?
I also add the side borders then the top and bottom.

I mark the centers and the quarters, the eighths,sixteenths. if I need to, on both the borders and the center of the quilt. Mark everything to death! That way if there is any easing to do it will be done evenly. If it still doesn't lay flat - god bless you. and measure again....

I have had this problem and for me, it's the quilt not being square.
It's an ongoing learning thing for me.
I measure, measure, measure...and I use carpenter square tools...the big ones! :shock: :)

Here's how I do mine. I fold the quilt in half and lay the border right on top across the middle of the half (so it would be measured at the 1/4 and 3/4 of the top) and then cut the border as it lays on the quilt top. Saves measuring that way. Then I pin the side borders on starting with the middle, then the ends, then in between. Then sew. Then I press the border and lay it out again folded the other way and cut the top and bottom borders the same way. The borders always seem to lay flat.

I measure down the middle of the quilt top lengthwise. That will be the length of the side borders. Cut the borders. Find and mark the halfway point, use a pin or mark with a washable pencil. Fold and find the middle points on the sides of the quilt top, mark with a pin or pencil. Match the middle of the borders to the middle marks of the quilt top. Pin the middles together. Then pin the entire border on, starting at the ends, so that there is no material overhanging, the ends and middle match up perfectly. By putting one pin in the middle and starting the rest of the pinning at the ends, you can account for any slack and avoid the "waves".
Once the sides are on, I press the border out and then repeat the process, measuring across the middle of the quilt top width-wise, to give me the length for the top and bottom borders.
Hope this makes sense!

I have heard some folks that take 3 measurements each--top to bottom and across--then use the average of the 3 measurements.

I agree that starch, starch, starch will help and cutting with the grain (parallel to the selvage) will also help smooth the waves. Marking & pinning the center and ends then easing in the borders might help also.

I mark the centers and the quarters, the eighths,sixteenths. if I need to, on both the borders and the center of the quilt. Mark everything to death! That way if there is any easing to do it will be done evenly.

This is the same process I follow. Pinning at centers, quarters, eighths and sixteenths and pinning border and top to match at the pins. Sew, removing pins along the way. Perfect every time.

Ya know, I never measure and I never have wavy borders. I don't put my quilts together in rows though so they come out squarer to start with. Then when I sew the border on I always sew with the quilt on the bottom. I also fold my border in half and pin from the center to each end.

I don't understand this also...

Pin, pin, pin like CRAZY! That helps me.

when you measure through the center of the quilt, top to bottom you should cut your border strip this measurement...unless you are mitering your corners?
attach the side borders with the border fabric on the bottom and the quilt on top. then measure across the quilt top from side to side through the center and cut your top and bottom borders to this measurement. add them to the top and bottom again with the border strips on the bottom and the quilt on top. pinning is a personal thing, some people do, some don't.

I highly agree, this is how I do it as well, and never have wavy borders. The time spent marking and pinning is well worth it, give it a try!

I lay my quilt out, lay the border fabric on top of the quilt in the middle lengthwise, cut it to fit. Same thing the other way. I usually do the sides first, then top and bottom. I do not use a measuring tape and I do not average - I just use the center measurement. I fold the border into 1/4ths and press a small crease near the edge. I match up with same on the quilt and then pin in between. I was reading on Quiltville that the fabric or measuring tape can stretch. If you smoothe out the quilt, and also smooth the border fabric well, it lays nice and flat for cutting. I never have a problem with wavy borders now.

I don't see in your steps that you are checking to make sure quilt is squared up. I use the 12" square ruller to check corners & 24" ruler for sides. Does your quilt top lay flat before adding the borders?

It sounds like you are going the extra mile, however, I sew the sides on first, then the top and borrom. I use lots of pins, so that I never have a surpise at the end of my sewing. Hope you get lots of help from this post. :idea:

It sounds like you are going the extra mile, however, I sew the sides on first, then the top and bottom. I use lots of pins, so that I never have a surpise at the end of my sewing. Hope you get lots of help from this post. :idea:

Everyone always says "starch, starch, starch. I need more information. Heavy starch to me is like cuffs or collars in a man's white dress shirt. Can we start from there? I always purchase the "heavy" starch. The fabric is wet with starch, let it sit for a few minutes, then press. Everyone has a difference idea on best products to use. Any info would be appreciated. Am going to starch, starch, starch, this morning.
Hope everyone has a great day!

I have had the problem and what I found was my boarders were not square at the corners. Check to make sure they are square. I have started doing this every time and I have had not ruffling since then.

I do longarming and teach soldier quilt volunteers. This is the way I teach it, and the method that works best for me. It always produces perfect borders.

Measure lengthwise center, and both sides of quilt. Add together, then divide by 3, to get average border length (this is important). Cut each side border this length. Lay border on top of quilt, smooth gently, and see which piece is larger, quilt or border? Then pin border on quilt, ends first, then center, then remaining. Now to sew, put larger piece on the bottom of machine, by the feed-dogs. (They will ease in the excess fabric very nicely.) Then sew, making sure you don't pull or stretch anything...let the machine do the work. Repeat for top and bottom borders, including the side borders when you measure.

If mitering the corners, use the measurements as the inside border measurements.

Hope this helps :)

I agree. If your quilt doesn't lay flat before adding borders, it won't lay flat afterward no matter what measurement you take. So you need to figure out why, and fix it before you move on! I always lay the quilt flat, pin border on, leaving an inch or two at the top and bottom. Sew the border on, and then press the seam toward the border.Trim the border even with the top and bottom of the quilt, using the rotary ruler and cutter to be sure you are trimming it square. This works for me. I find that when your border measures less than the edge (if the center measures less than the edge) you will have one of two results - the edge looks 'gathered' into the border or the border is going to be stretched, and the result looks wavy.

If not put together in rows, how is the quilt put together.

Put the blocks together in pairs. Then put the pairs together into giant four patches. Then put the giant four patches together into pairs continuing until you have the quilt in four quarters. Sew the top and bottom quarters together and then the top and bottom halves together. You end up with only one long seam. Since you're putting the blocks into four patches you can make the block intersections match perfectly. That's where perfect matches matters the most. By the time you get to the end of a long seam any imperfections are multiplied. Plus when you add a whole row at a time if it's just a hair off that will be mulitiplied by the time you get to the last row and your quilt will tend towards trapazoid instead of square.

The biggest plus of all is you only have the whole quilt on the machine once.

I never measure....well, I do measure so I know I have enough border, but I don't cut it to "fit" before I sew it on! Just make sure you have enough border, sew with the quilt on the bottom and sew from top to bottom. I never have wavy borders. Oh, I also never pin...I hate pins. I also NEVER stretch the border. I just lay it on and sew away.

Could be you tensions (bottom & top) aren't even on your machine. Check your manual to remedy this problem. You may want to use a rolling foot, too. Ruffling of the border is probably a problem with one layer (border or pieced top) getting stretched more than the other.

Another hint: spray the edges of your pieced top and iron them flat (again) before applying the spray starched and ironed border.

When I sew the borders on I go to a slightly larger stitch than for piecing. Because you are sewing long seams sometimes the machine stitching tightens in places because of the way you guide the fabric thru or start & stopping, so when I loosen it by 3 stitches it takes care of that happening. I try to sew without stopping and simply let the machine pull the fabric thru. I have never had a wavy border

I measure down the center and pin the border (cut to that dimension) first on each end, then in the middle, then in half again, then in half again......If there is any discrepancy between the border and the outer side of the top, the difference will be absorbed or adjusted for evenly. If I don't pin, it has a tendency to get wonky. Once the sides are on, I press the seam and repeat the step for the other side.

pin centers, pin ends, and pin inbetween.

I don't understand why you add the step #3. Other than that, it's exactly how I do it!

Wow, Scissor Queen, your comment about how you piece together your blocks, never thought of that! I'll see how that works with my next quilt

I couldn't understand what the problem was with borders. But now i understand why it is important to square up your quilt before putting on the border. But I use the method of cutting to the length plus a little more and cutting off the excess. I didn't know you're supposed to have the exact measurement and ease in. thanks all.

I don't measure my borders - I cut the width I need for the borders and make sure it is longer than the quilt. fold the quilt in half, and lay my borders on the middle of the quilt, and carefully, 2,3 or even 4 times smooth it and make sure top edges are even. When I am satisfied it is as even and straight as it can be, I cut to length while it is on top of the quilt, being careful not to cut the quilt. Fold in halves, quarters, fold the quilt sides in half, quarters etc and put pins together at marks, and pin
I have never had one come out crazy.

Jackey in MO

If you have more than one border on a side make sure they are both cut the same way - either lengthwise or crosswise of grain otherwise they will be wavy.

1. Press quilt with dry iron.
2. Measure quilt through middle (vertically and horizontally)
3. Add 2x width of that measurement and cut border strips to that length
4. Attach top and bottom borders
5. Attach side borders[/quote]

Hi Shannon,
I see two things that give me pause - first of all, I'm with the others that don't understand step 3. If I am reading it correctly,
after you measure the middle, both lenghtwise, and crosswise,
do you add something to that measurement? If you are, that
could be your problem, because you only need the exact width and length that you get when you measure - nothing added to that.

I think the other thing is pressing the whole quilt first, even with a dry iron. The dry iron part is good, but pressing really stretches the quilt unless you just put the iron in one spot, leave it for a minute (without moving the iron back and forth at all), and then move to the next spot.

You are measuring the best way, because if you measure in the middle, both vertically and horizontally, you will get the right
measurement for your strips.

When you cut your strips, never double fold the fabric (double folding is where you take the folded edge and fold it again to the selvage). I know it is easier to cut that way, but that almost always gives you wavy borders that are very hard to make lay flat. It is always best when cutting strips of any kind to measure from the folded edge and cut the entire width of the fabric, using a long ruler.

After the strips are cut, find the middle of each border strip and pin that to the exact middle of your quilt. Then, pin each end of the border strip to the ends of the quilt. From there, pin every few inches, either working in any excess you may have, or stretching the border slightly to stretch out any that you might need too. If you feel more comfortable pinning every inch or so, that is fine, but the main thing is the pin enough to keep the border secure, especially in spots that you might have to ease in excess fabric, or stretch out spots that need to be.

I, personally, always sew the top and bottom on first, then the sides, but I suppose that is personal preference.

Others have been right that if the quilt itself isn't straight, it is hard to get the borders straight, but using the technique above will almost always help pull the quilt in or work it out so that it will be straight in the end. Oh, one more thing is to make sure any inner borders are done the same way as the outer borders, because inner borders that are wavy or bowed will absolutely affect the outer border.

You have gotten other good suggestions. I think you are on the right track, but I hope these tips help.
Marcia

I tried measuring top middle and bottom taking an average....It worked perfect
Linda

Thank you for this discussion....especially Scissor Queen for your assembly method. I'm a beginning and (so far) have not had trouble with borders but all of these tips are so useful. I always learn something from every discussion on this Board!

Thanks. It's because I was a beginner and decided I really don't like long seams so I figured out how to do it another way and discovered the quilt came out squarer that way. So now I always do it that way.

Scissor Queen, did you ever get moved?

We got moved although I haven't got the sewing room unpacked yet. I've got about half of it unpacked so far but I need hubby to help me move some furniture and he's been working 12 hour shifts for a week. As soon as he recovers from that we'll rearrange and I'll get the rest of it unpacked.

I gave up hunting for my camera battery charger and my computer speakers and just got new ones.

As soon as I get the next quilt to the assembly stage I'll do a tutorial of how to put the blocks together not in rows.