First of all, I love this quilt and can't wait to see a final pic! Personally, I put a skinny colored inner border to frame it and a white larger border to finish it off. Because the pattern doesn't have anywhere for the eyes to "rest", I wouldn't use a piano key border.

I'd be tempted to audition a fairly wide white border with a wave or scallop edge, then bound in a solid pink or deep rose.

While piano key borders can be fun, I think there would be several downsides to using one on this quilt.

For one thing -- you've got so much already going on in terms of color and pattern, the piano keys would just be a distraction. No matter how you cut them, they'd look thick and clunky compared to all that tiny piecing.

Also, I personally find that when I have a lot of small pieces in a quilt top, it tends to have a lot of "give" and I like a border that is fairly stable that won't also be heavily pieced and prone to stretching and distortion.

A lot of times I skip the border and just add a binding, but this is a quilt that will look nice with something to contain and frame. I also like the idea of continuing the piecing up into the border. Another idea -- depending on how much more time and energy you want to put into the quilt, you could do an applique border -- something like a vine with flowers in some of your colored fabrics that extends out from the corners.

What I would probably do is finish the piecing, then photograph the quilt top and print out several copies. Then I'd play around with adding borders in several differnt styles to my print outs, and see what feels right.

OMG is a perfect name for it.... I don't think it will be on my "to do" list anytime soon.

everytime I see this quilt, I fall in love with it. it is just the bees knees. I love it.

The OP originally posted this over a year ago... I hope she comes along and shows us a picture of the finished quilt soon!

:)

beautiful, you must be so proud. i have started making mine, have 5 blocks done so far, so I guess it will take me about three years. LOL

It is a beautiful quilt. I would just add a border of whatever favorite color is in the quilt. Just something simple to not compete with your gorgeous quilt.

I like it without a border, but if needed for size, I'd use white and then bind with multi like suggested. a friend made this quilt and did not use borders--it was just amazing (and a multi show prize winner too)

I agree with Rebecca! Like a 2" white, 1" coloured, 2 or 3" white on the outside. If you want a little something extra, put cornerstones in the border corners using an orphan block unit or a few small squares in a chain. Beautiful quilt!!! Well done!