squaring mitered corners?
 

Hi, I'm a quilter and new to this site. I seem to have screwed up my mitered corner seams when squaring off the finished quilt. Arghhhhh!!! I should have seen this coming. The mitered border corners of my quilt stretched about an inch off on one side and 1/2 inch off on the other, I had to trim the edges to square off the quilt, of course this threw off the mitered seems. Now the seems don't align evenly with the corners. How frustrating!! Any advice on avoiding this in the future? Can I stop the mitered corners from stretching out of whack? :( Thanks to any help out there, :o

Barb

One thing that I do is NOT trim the corners til I check that all is laying flat and correct!

A good starching would help hold the fabric steady as you work with it.
Marking your stitching lines could be a help too.

If you have not done the binding, might I suggest using something like a dinner plate and placing it upside down on the corner then trimming it off that way it might not be so obvious if its a rounded corner.

Next time, sew on the borders and stop at the 1/4" mark from the edge. Iron the rest of the seam allowance. Let one border lie flat and fold the other border until you have the perfect miter. Press that seam. Insert a narrow piece of fusible web (1/4" or less wide) under that top fabric where the seam will be. Iron to fuse the perfect miter into place. Turn over and trim the excess fabric away. Sew on the press mark.

Sandi Irish taught us that method in a presentation on Saturday. She says it works every time!

Edit: Just remember that each border must extend a *lot* beyond where a regular border would stop. You need that extra fabric to create the miter! You want to add to *each* side the width of the border to be mitered plus a couple of inches. (When sewing on the border, do the usual measuring and mark the border ends instead of cutting the border ends. Leave the extra fabric as an add-on to the border end marks.)

Absolutely should have checked first!!! Live and learn, thanks for the input.

This fusible web is a great idea, never would have thought of doing something like this. Thanks for all the help!

I avoid it by not mitering my corners. One or two should have been mitered but, I didn't do it. There is always another time.
Welcome to our wonderful board, from Missouri.

I love the look of multiple mitered borders.
I do mine the same as above, except I use Elmer's Washable glue to secure the miter instead of interfacing, and while I also sew on the crease, I don't trim until after I've sewn and am able to check that the miter is still perfect.

'Cause, my luck, strange things happen between the ironing board and sewing machine, and then there isn't any fabric left to fix the problem.

I never miter my borders.

thank goodness for elmer glue +fusable web and you great people for sharing