What is the "rule" for quilt borders?
 

I'm making a king size quilt, and have the center of it finished. I would like to add borders, but they would start at the sides and hang down. Is there a rule of ratios that I should keep in mind? I would like to use 3 different fabrics, light, medium, and dark for the borders.

Usually, I make scrappy quilts, and don't make borders. Can anyone help me with this?

I would do whatever size in each color that looks good to you. If there is a rule then it needs to be broken.

Ummmmm....... there's a rule? Why didn't somebody tell me?? Oh dear.....

Rules? Whatever size looks good to me and or I have enough fabric to do. Today I pieced a border because I didn't have enough of any one coordinating fabric.

ditto to the others ... no rules!!

Sometimes centre/main part of the quilt "tells" me what widths work for the borders.
Or at least give me hints!

Otherwise, I just audition different fabrics/colours and different widths, til I get what I like best.

Another vote for no rules!

No rules rom me also.

when my daughter was 12 she made her first throw sized quilt out of an animal panel (of giraffes and zebras), and a simple alternating block. She loved it, but when it was done, she wanted it to be a bed spread. we measured how far she wanted the sides to be on her bed (18 inches) and then we added "jelly roll strips" in fabric and colors that coordinated with the panel / throw. It turned out lovely and still looks good 15 years later. We had no rules....just a dream and then made a plan.

While there are no rules, you could try
-equal thirds
-top 2 "strips" equal, lowest one a little wider
-color 1, color 2, color 3, then color 1 again (top to bottom as it hangs off the sides)

More important than anything is that it looks good to you. Trust your gut.

No rules, but if you are using 3 borders, 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 usually doesn’t look very good unless they contrast really good (e.g., two prints and a solid). Better is usually some ratio of 2-1-2 or 3-1-3. Even 1-2-3 often looks good (note these are ratios, not the actual size). Often having something thin contrasts nicely with wider borders. But as others have said: Decide what looks pleasing to you!

Using the Fibonacci sequence will help you to have borders that are pleasingly well-balanced to the eye. Here are a few websites that explain:
http://thunderbayquilters.org/?page_id=381 Scroll down to where it says "Border Widths" It gives a very good explanation of the Fibonacci sequence, also known as the golden rule.

https://comestitchwithme.com/2014/09...h-for-a-quilt/

I agree with themadpatter. Too many peoples hackles get raised with the word "rule" but as mad pointed out the Fibonacci sequence, also known as the golden ratio (and also the golden rule, which I think the OP was striving to get the answer for) is most pleasing to the eye and appears in nature over and over again from seashells to sunflowers (hence why most find it appealing to the eye yet don't even know why, it is almost as though we are hard wired for it) Here is an excellent article written by Jinny Beyer regarding it and calculating border widths. https://jinnybeyer.com/golden-ratio-...s-for-borders/

I do whatever I think works. I never ask for other's opinions as I don't want any.

Thanks for this information.

Really didn't know there was a rule??!! I just add borders to my liking. Try and audition some and see what looks good to you. I am sure it will be very nice.

I didn't know there was a rule either. I just use whatever looks good to me. I like borders on my quilts as it frames the blocks to me.

[QUOTE=feline fanatic;8185025]I agree with themadpatter. Too many peoples hackles get raised with the word "rule" but as mad pointed out the Fibonacci sequence, also known as the golden ratio (and also the golden rule, which I think the OP was striving to get the answer for) is most pleasing to the eye and appears in nature over and over again from seashells to sunflowers (hence why most find it appealing to the eye yet don't even know why, it is almost as though we are hard wired for it) Here is an excellent article written by Jinny Beyer regarding it and calculating border widths. https://jinnybeyer.com/golden-ratio-...s-for-borders/[/QUOTE

Yes, that is the word I meant, RATIO, not rule! Thanks for the info provided. My blocks are only 5" finished, but the overhang on my quilt will be quite large.

Thanks for the info, that is exactly what I was searching for!

I think most know when something looks like it belongs and pleasing to the eye whether it being a color, design, or size. The rule had to look good to many for it to become the rule in the first place. IMO.

I'm glad someone posted the Fibonacci sequence, as I read through the thread I was positive that's what the OP was looking for.

Isn't it funny how just a simple word can get so many people's hackles raised? I used the word "vendor" to describe a customer to my co-worker a week ago, she got very irritated with me because he doesn't supply any goods or services to us. But his address is stored in the database that our accounting software has labeled "vendors".

I took a workshop and we made a quilt using the Fibonacci number sequence. It was a weekend of pure brain hurt. I remember a square divided in two squares and then we added the two sizes together to get the next square and so on. Lots of numbers. I forgot the instructor's name but she was a math geek and had a good class. I gave up the math part and cut the squares to fit as I thought looked right. My quilt looked the same as the others that did the math problems. I trusted what I thought looked pleasing and had a better time sewing.

The first rule is #1 it's your quilt and you make it however you want to. Lol

If others don't like it tooo bad!

It is your quilt - so you get to make the rules!!! lay out the borders and the top on a bed top and audition them. Leave them for the day and every time you walk into the room, register your reaction. One of them will continue to draw your eye and make you smile - THAT'S THE ONE TO USE.

The “rule” (there are rules? Yup, you make them for you.) that I follow is, I measure how much I need to add to the quilt for the drop I want on the bed I am making the quilt for. I take that number, and divide it by the number of borders I want to use. This gives me a quilt exactly the size I want. If it is not bed size, I make the borders the way I like the look of them. I take a picture of the quilt with audition border fabrics until I am happy with a certain look.

This awesome Donald Duck video might be much more helpful than all the math. I am not trying to be condescending; it was clear as mud to me until I remembered this video from my childhood and looked it up. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_ZHsk0-eF0

What's amazing is this stuff comes naturally and automatically to (most) humans. Our brains seem to gravitate towards the "Golden Rule" and find it pleasing, which is probably why you didn't need to do the math. :thumbup:

think this is what you are looking for

I have a printout of the Fibonacci sequence, and very rarely will refer to it if I can't make a decision on widths. It is not really a quilting rule. Just a tool to help determine what is pleasing via mathmatics.

Interesting articles. I generally decide on my borders in the manner most others referenced. I know how big I want my quilt to be, so I figure out how much border I need to get there, then I divide that out depending on what I think looks pleasing. Interesting all the same to read about ratios and how they occur in nature. It's a good starting off point. :o

RULES? RULES? It is your Quit, make it the way you want, don’t go to. The quilt police!!!!

Calm down, if the word "rules" gets stuck in your craw, use "guidelines" instead. :thumbup: Read the whole thread. The OP was actually looking for guidelines to help her pick the most pleasing-to-the-eye size of borders.