Thoughts on a narrow border vs a flange
 

I'm wondering if one has any benefit other than personal preference? I am working on my Allietare Mystery quilt and added the gold inner border as per Bonnie's instructions. It was cut at 1 1/2 inches to finish at 1".

I didn't have enough black for the outer border, but at the fabric store found a perfect red and decided to use it instead but I want a thin black highlight between the two.

If I do a "flange" it must face inwards and the gold border will decrease to 3/4 inch showing. Also when quilting I won't be able to do an edge to edge design. I wouldn't want to be sewing over the flange.

If I do a narrow border strip, it would be pressed outwards so my gold stays 1" wide and I can quilt edge to edge right over it. Another note is that the quilt would finish 1/2" longer and 1/2" wider than it would with a flange.

Since I am a pretty new quilter, an edge to edge design seems like it would be more manageable than doing one pattern here and one pattern there.

Am I missing anything?

It helps if you post a photo. Being a new quilter, you might have difficult just doing that small of a border. Have you looked into doing a folded border?? I know that EB of Quilt in a Day may have a video on making them. The fold border just won't be as stretchy as a single layer border might be. They can be tricky. Hopefully, a LAQ will give you advice on how to handle the concern you have about a flange border.

Although I have seen quilts with borders as small as 1/8", the narrowest border I do is 1/2" finished (cut at 1") anything smaller and I use a flange. In both cases, you need to cut the pieces accurately and maintain a consistent seam, because of the small width.
It sounds like you are concerned that the quilt size will deviate a small amount depending on the technique you choose. Unless you are making this to fit a specific place, like a window opening, the size difference you are talking about doesn't matter. If it needs to be a specific size, you can reduce the final border to make up the difference. When it comes to border widths, many folks just lay the fabrics out and move them back & forth until they get a grouping that is pleasing to their eye.
Same with reducing the gold border to 3/4". You probably will not notice.
You can quilt over the flange, just make sure you don't flip it. The unquilted spots in the folded edge will just add dimension.
If you are truly concerned about quilting with the flange, then I would just go with the narrow pieced border.

I took a class on sewing narrow borders, some 1/4" wide. We sewed them backwards from the usual way. Instead of having the seam on the right of the needle we sewed the seam on the left. I haven't made narrow borders in a long time so I'd have to make a few practice ones for it all to come back to me. I do remember the borders being very straight. I sewed 1/8" up to 3/4" borders on my practice piece.

All I can say is I'm anxious to see it when you're finished.

I would be tempted to sew the black strip to the outer border first, then sew as one unit to the quilt - and I would make the black wider than needed and mark the 1/4" stitching line on it and trim afterwards.

Good luck, sounds like it will look great!

Since I'm a longarmmer, I do not like flanges. It definitely adds to the quilting time and makes a pantograph (my preferred quilting method) difficult.

I'm not worried about the size increase. I'm just considering each difference. The long armer at the fabric store was suggesting s "flange" which I would imagin is what you mean by a "folded border"ManiacQuilter2.

Even though I am a pretty new quilter, I have done a narrow border accent before and didn't have a problem. That one was on the bias too! So I am thinking this shouldn't be too hard. *Time will tell right?

lfletcher, that's my thinking too. I am surprised that this other woman was suggesting it, but she long arms professionally so maybe a border design is not such a big deal to her? I have a quilt frame, but have only done one quilt on it so far so edge to edge designs are more attractive to me right now while I am getting more comfortable with the movement of my machine on the frame.

I think - decision made! I will do the narrow border strip. Once I have the rest of the border together, I'll post a photo, but this morning I have to take my grandson for his dentist appointment! ;)

I think you made the right decision. I don't mind doing narrow borders. They really aren't much different. I don't see any real advantage to a flange...

Dina

I finished with the border today and am happy with the narrow border choice. It will be nice and smooth to quilt over instead of having to mess with a flange and a border design. Here's a close up of the narrow border and a pic of my finished Allitare quilt top. All thanks to Bonnie Hunter for the wonderful design!