Queen Bed Quilt Borders
 

I am making a quilt for my sister's queen sized bed. Would it be strange for the sides and end of the quilt to have a border the width of the mattress drop, while the top (headboard) end would have no border? My sister likes to have lots of pillows on the bed and a border at the top (headboard) end seems a little wasted. Also, would a plain, one-fabric border the width of the the drop (@14") overwhelm the center, pieced area of the quilt? Any suggestions or input you can provide would be helpful. Thanks.

Welcome aboard!
I'm still new but I think your idea would work. The quilt I'm making for our queen size bed doesn't have a top border but it will on the foot and sides. I've seen a lot of pictures of quilts that don't have borders at the top. I've also seen quite a few antique quilts that had notches in the bottom corners to clear the bed posts. Making a quilt to fit the bed isn't a new idea.
I think the plain 14" border will look funny if the quilt is flat but it will look right on the bed. It' will also give you a lot of room to play with quilting designs.
Rodney

I've seen lovely quilts done with only three borders. It should be fine.

I make the borders different on my bed quilts all the time. Either no border on the top or a narrower border. The quilts look a little "off" hanging on a wall, but look perfect on a bed. Since all of my quilts are made to be on beds, it works for me.

I have made many queen size quilts without a border for the top. Normally my outside border was at least 8" and to have that band of dark border at the top of the bed just doesn't look attractive in my opinion. They use to do that on older quilts, that is where I got the idea from.

I will often use different size borders on quilts depending on what bed it's going on the size of blocks I've used. You can never tell they are different once they are on the bed.

I have made quilts with out the border across the top. I usually make pillow shams to match, so it does not show. If your length is good without it, go for it!

I've made several bed quilts with borders on 3 sides. My avatar is on a full bed and I made matching pillow shams.

Your quilt, make it how you want. There are no quilt police here. The only thing I might mention would be if you plan to hang it at any point you may want it symmetrical. If you use it on the bed all the time than by all means do only 3 borders. Just my humble opinion, :)