Hi! I'm fairly new to quilting and have found some very conflicting information on how to do sashing and borders.
I would rather not piece them if I don't have to do so but it seems to be very difficult to cut the the length of the fabric. I see that cutting them the length of the fabric seems to make them much less stretchy and I do like that plus the look of their not being pieced.
But I do wonder if this isn't a major waste of fabric and what is the correct way to do it. I have a quilting book that shows borders being cut out this way but I want to do the "All Around the Neighborhood" quilt that I found at the fabshophop for January and they just say to cut the borders the width of the fabric and give required amounts of fabric based on that.
Please help if you can.

It totally depends on your preference. People do it both ways.

I prefer to cut borders all in one piece, but sometimes that doesn't work out, and I happily piece them. I'm not crazy about doing that if it's a really distinct pattern and the seam is obvious, but sometimes it can't be helped. It's totally up to you - either way is acceptable.

Whenever possible, I plan my borders to be cut lengthwise. It's not a waste for me. I still use the rest of the fabric. It just requires a bit more thinking in order to plan how to cut the other pieces. I never have a problem with wavy borders, which is a bonus.

I don't have a lot of space to work, so I try to spread out on the kitchen table with my fabric. My largest cutting board is 18x36, so I have to keep sliding it down as I go. I fold up the fabric and try to keep the lines on the ruler lined up with the fold. I just take my time and cut slowly.

The second one of the ice cream quilts for kids I'm finishing up now has pieced borders. I plan on adding some ice cream additions to it, like a bunch of cherries, a banana, a spoon and dish, etc to go with the ice cream theme. All these will go to cover up the inevitable but lovable spots that aren't perfect.
I think kids will love it. They had darn well better......

I cut my borders the width of the fabric and just sew a bunch end-to-end. That way the seams are kind of random and don't draw the eye to them. I am not into figuring out ahead of time how big the border or the quilt is going to be!

What can you afford to do? That is why I usually piece my borders and bindings. I do try to keep my sashing pieces as individual pieces using cornerstones or such. Plus the cornerstones add interest to the sashing and blocks.

ali

if i was going to cut borders length of fabric i would do that first and use remainder to cut the blocks would have to re figure how many strips

Thank you all. I should have enough fabric to cut along the length and think that's what I'll do. Even though it's difficult to do this (for me) it does seem to be the best option. And the left-over fabric should be fine too as I guess I'll be cutting it up sometime anyway!
Thanks again.

Starch will help with the stretchy problem. For the borders--remember to measure through the center of the quilt--not the edges and gather in fullness or stretch to make ends meet.

you can cut your fabric any way you want to.it is yours, you paid for it, and no one is going to show up at your door to say you can't quilt anymore because you cut that piece wrong!
some people do not like to seam their borders and buy 3 yards just so they can cut it lengthwise...it is their choice, nothing wrong with it...if you have a 3 yd piece of fabric and you are cutting 4 (6" borders) from it-- that uses 26" of the width of the fabric (adding the 1/2" seam allowances) which is going to leave you a piece of fabric 108" long (3 yds) x 18" (what's left of the width of a 44" piece) if you can work with that...i see no problem.
i do both, sometimes (usually if i have a long enough piece) when ready for borders i cut them long...if i'm going to still need larger pieces of that fabric i cut across the width or if i don't have a long enough piece to start with i cut across the width...it just depends on the moment...never since 1976 had someone tell me i can't cut my fabric up any way i want to....other than advice to watch those pesky stretchy bias'

As a relative newbie, I'm learning a lot with each project. That is, as I'm sure everyone knows, both good and bad. On my current quilt I did cut the sashes and borders so they were very long and that was good as they don't stretch. But I could have cut them with more accuracy (if I knew how). Plus after I put a few on and noticed the somewhat wavy sashes, I remembered that it would be best to put those pieces on the top as that wouldn't stretch out so much. There is so much to know when quilting!! Hopefully, at some point I'll be able to remember it all.
Also thanks for the reminder about measuring the borders. I think that's a difficult thing to do as well.