I have been a lurker for awhile and learned a lot from you guys. Thank you so much. Now my question is...
I am ready to put some borders around my quilt. Do I need to cut
90+ inches on the straight? or can I cut wof and sew together?
I think on the straight would look better but....I know I will get it crooked. How do you do it?
Thanks, Linda

It's perfectly okay to seam your borders.

I cut WOF for mine! :-)

WOF here too.

Me too.

Great, WOF it is!
I thought the quilt police would come after me. ;-)

I cut WOF because it is just too expensive for me to buy that much extra fabric.

Please what is WOF ??

If WOF then seam on the diagonal. One's eye tends to stop if seamed on the straight. Also check the pattern in your fabric to be assured the seaming doesn't look disjointed as some directional prints tend to do. If this is the case then I believe you need to do some careful cutting to make the border look continuous.

Thank you

I usually do mine WOF too, but it's "better" to do length grain if you have wavy border problems. If it's a special quilt I do the straight grain borders.

Width of fabric.

oh my.. the subject line scared me for a second...

I thought it said "question about hoarders"

Ditto, also WOF is stretchier so be careful of pulling or stretching fabric.

I like to use the straight of grain for borders. It does not stretch nearly as much as the cross cut. It helps to keep the entire quilt square. But there have been times when I just can not justify the cost of the lenght for just a border.. too much left over , or I just do not have enough . When this happens I always kick myself for not having the forethought to cut the fabric for the borders first then use the remaining in the quilt.
FYI its tough to mix , using lenght wise and then another border in the same quilt on cross grain. The cross grain will not lay as flat when mixed with the lenght wise.

Quilt police???? Are they lurking????

i try to use vertically cut (VC) border strips whenever possible. since using WOF requires piecing the borders, i don't hesitate to piece the VC borders if i don't want to buy a looooooooong piece.

there's nothing wrong with WOF borders. i just get better results with less aggravation if i do them VC.

when i have to use WOF, i starch the bejeezers out of them before stitching. that helps reduce the chances of stretching them into waves or ruffles. AND a walking foot is immensely helpful when attaching WOF borders.

I cut mine WOF. I do better that way.

I prefer to cut the length because it has less stretch, but I often piece the WOF (on the diagonal)and it usually works out fine.

You might want to use your even feed foot to apply the border and the binding.

For me it depends on the fabric being used. If it has a definite directional pattern I cut one direction for the top and bottom and the other for the sides. That way the pattern is the same on all borders. If it is an all over print I cut WOF and piece unless it is a special quilt and I don't want the seams.

It's Width of Fabric....in other words, just cut crossways and your strips will end up 40"-42" long, depending on the fabric.

If you are worried about having a seam in your borders, just make a feature of it and put a fancy block in - between and it will not be noticeable.

WOF is easier to cut, does not strech as much and is really not a fabric waster. Cut you strips as wide as you want the border and they should be 40-42 in long. Figure ou the total inches need to go around the quilt divide by 40 and that is how many strips that you will need. Cut one extra strip to allow for diaginal piecing of the strips. Diaginal piecing seams does not show as much as straight but they do take more material. Extra material? same for another project!

Question about Hoarders - we can answer almost any question you have!!!!!

I straight seam sashing and borders and cross grain the binding. Another mantra! Besides I have a note on my sewing table, so as not to forget! Edie

I think Length of Fabric looks better but seams are fine. I usually rip my fabric if I'm going a long distance. Once it's ironed, the ripples go away. Or, I rip a little wider than I need and trim.

WOF=width of fabric

I like to use my fabric length wise for borders. I can still have seams If I need to but the border is not as apt to stretch or ruffle cutting it the length of the fabic. I also tear my fabric for borders if using it length wise. But not if I have to use it across the WOF. Sometimes the pattern of the print says I have to use it WOF on the top and bottom.

I cut wof and do a mitered joint so that it all looks like one continuous strip. Then you sew on sides first and then top and bottom. Well this is the way I was taught but there are wonderful people on this board who miter top to sides, bottom to sides etc... and it too looks Great

WOF is width of fabric instead of the way we would cut for making clothes.

What is WOF?

What does WOF mean?

Width Of Fabric = WOF

Depends on the project, if I do an elaborate applique, I will do length of fabric, otherwise I just cut across selvage to selvage and piece the length I need. Fabric is just to costly to have a lot of leftover from cutting borders lengthwise.

I usually use the WOF for borders, except for special projects. Can't justify the cost, especially on scrappy or charity quilts.

Depends on what your border fabric is. If it's large and a seam would really be noticable, or the design is directional so that WOF cutting would make everything be sideways, then cut a full length so you don't have to piece it. But if it's a smaller, non-directional fabric, and piecing wouldn't be obvious, go ahead and piece it. I have had border fabric that's large in scale, but not enough length to cut it without piecing, so I take several smaller pieces, say 2 1/2" x whatever the width of the border is and inset them to look like you planned it that way. Obviously, you'll use fabrics from your quilt, or others that coordinate, but, it's actually a cool way to solve this problem. I've attached this picture to illustrate the sort of strips I mean, only you would only use a few at a time, rather that do the whole border this way. Am I as clear as mud?? :)

I prefer no seams in my borders, so i like to use the length of fabric (LOF) which is parallel to the selvage edge, rather than the width of fabric (WOF) with seams.

The trick to cutting LOF is to have your fabric perfectly aligned on grain before you cut.
Start with a length of fabric which is a few inches longer than the length you need for borders, taking into account extra for mitred corners (if applicable) and the fact that the ends of this length will need to be squared up.
Iron your fabric open to one layer. The process is easier, i think, if you spray starch or mist out the fold so that it is open and removed from the fabric.
Then lay out your length of fabric, on a table, preferably.
Take one selvage edge and bring it to the other selvage edge, and make sure the fabric lies perfectly smooth. No little waves or wrinkles. The cut ends of the fabric may or may not be lined up. What you need lined up is are the selvages with the 2 layers of fabric completely smooth. If you wish, you may press the fold back into the fabric at this point.
Then fold the length of your fabric, with the selvages lined up still, in half, and in half again, until it fits under your ruler.
I like to use the June Tailor Shape Cut Ruler, with a large Rotary blade (60 mm rather than 45mm), but you can use any ruler you wish.
Be sure to put your ruler perpendicular to the folded edge and parallel to the selvage edge when you cut, or you will end up with something that looks like ric-rac.
Once you do this a couple of times, it is a piece of cake and you will be able to do it always.
To save on fabric waste, you would need to see if your border fabric is used elsewhere in your pattern and if it is, you would need to figure out how much of the fabric which is not used in the borders would be available for your quilt top. Often you can get away with buying what you need for the borders and then you can get the remainder of the pieces for your quilt from the "leftovers" from the borders. Just remember to cut borders *first*.

you can do either, if your dealing with a strip or print that would be best going length of fabric then go ahead and cut it that way making sure that fabric is laying straight when you cut it. But the easiest way is WOF, and pieced together.

I always cut my borders from the lenght of fabric even if I have to piece them , there is less stretch this way. Also, if you have an extremely large quilt & need really long borders I have also torn my borders & never had a problem , just press the torn edges until they are nice & flat.This is used if you don't want to piece a really long border & seems to be more accurate than trying to cut thru a really thick piece of fabric.

I use WOF. Using straight grain can cause a curvy outside edge if you stretch the fabric while ironing or handling.