Is There a "Rule" for Border Widths?
 

Not sure I have ever seen this question asked or answered so here goes:

I am making a wall hanging that will have 8" blocks set four across and five down (total of 20 blocks). I want a narrow "stop" border and was thinking 2" for it. Then I want my outer border to be 4" or 6"?

I guess my question really is: should the borders equal the width of the block for balance or should I make them a different width?

Thanks in advance! You all always have such great answers to my sometimes not so great questions!

No rules :) What I usually do is place border fabrics and quilt top on the floor and position them to audition the amount of border I want showing. I always position showing a full corner and as much as the top and one side as possible to get the full effect. Then I'll keep moving the border fabric to different widths until I get what I want.

I do the same thing to audition different fabric. Sometimes auditioning different fabric and different border widths can take me a full day and I get lots of exercise bending and re-positioning. I need a design wall!!

Do what you like. Sometimes I use the Golden Ratio, which would have your second border finish at 3.25", but really that's up to you. The Golden Ratio is 1.618 x [size of finished inner border]; it is supposedly very pleasing to look at. But if you want to go with 4" or 6" borders, I'm sure those will also look very nice. The neat thing about wider borders is that when they are solid fabrics, I can do really fun quilting designs. :)

i use the scientific method of eyeballing it to see what looks good. LOL!!

If i know what kind of a design I'm going to quilt, the width of the border will be based on that.

I also use the scientific eyeball-audition method. My stop borders finish somewhere between .5 and 1.5 inches. The outside border varies widely. Sometimes I want a full motif in the border fabric print. Sometimes I'm aiming for a specific size. Sometimes I just think it looks right!

Scientific "eyeballing" works for me And several ladies in my quilt/sew group do the same.

Thanks for your prompt replies. Will "audition" my borders to see what works best.

I would probably do a 1.5 or 2" (finished) inner border as well for that size block. Generally I have found that the next border works best at double that size (3 or 4" finished). If you're adding a third border, probably double the width of second border. That just looks balanced to me. But 'eyeball' method works about as well! Good luck.

Well, I decide on border width based on what I want the quilt to finish at. Or what I need to stretch it to. Some people don't like to "grow" a quilt w/borders but for me it is often easier, especially if I have only a certain number of blocks, like from a swap or something like that.

Where did the "golden ratio" come from, I have never heard of it but it sounds interesting.

I like borders that are about half the block size, or twice the sashing width,. . . or make the quilt come out the size I want!