ManiacQuilter2

I also audition fabric widths. It is I think more of a proportional issue. There is NO rule on what width to use on a specific size. You might put an 8" border on a queen size quilt but not on a lap.

JustOneMoreYard

I like the look of 3 mitered borders. Depending on the size of the quilt I start with (finished sizes) 2", 1", 2". If the quilt demands larger, I will go up 1/2 inch.

Peckish

As others have said, there is no "rule". But I once took a class from Barb Vlack, she said you can use the Fibonacci Sequence as a guide to help figure out proportions.

The human eye finds this sequence pleasing because it occurs a lot in nature. Here are some examples, (I especially liked the nautilus.)

Jinny Beyer wrote an article about how you can apply it to quilting.

http://www.jinnybeyer.com/blog/fibon...-golden-ratio/

Snooze2978

I didn't know there was a rule of thumb. I like borders on my quilts and if I still need to make it either longer or wider, I'll add an extra section of sashing/border to fill in such as background fabric on the outer edges with colored blocks between background fabric in the middle like the film strip look. I'm planning on a quilt for my bed with very long side borders as I want a plain section to add a scene along the side.........oriental for this one. The top and bottom borders will not be that wide as I won't need it but there will be a border to tuck. I have a 4-poster antique bed so it won't show anyway.

quilterpurpledog

It is true that there is no hard rules about this. I like to use narrow inner borders as a place to stop and rest the eyes. I like outer borders to from the quilt but not to 'take over' and be dominant. Dominating borders conflict with the quilt and come about because they are not proportional. The ones I have the most problem with are ones that 'just use something I had in my stash' rather than be a real compliment to an otherwise lovely quilt.

jillmc

Thank you for all of your input! Peckish, those were interesting links! I will never look at my plants the same!!!
I played around, and have settled on 1 1/4" stop border, and 4" border.....I am always afraid of wider borders-don't want to take away from the quilt design...but I like this!

nativetexan

lay that width of your fabrics and the top down and see how it looks. I sometimes go with 1/2 to 1/3 of the block size for the border. Either way, I'm sure you will be most happy with it.

MadQuilter

I generally use the size of the blocks to guide me in selecting borders. With a 9" block, I would probably use 1.5" and 4.5" for my borders.

Boston1954

I just try to have it frame up the quilt, and not over-power it. My quilts are usually lap sized and my borders are very often 3 to 4 inches.

Battle Axe

I agree with Dollyo. Use two colors a heavy background one for the inner and outer and then the accent color in a small 1/2 to 3/4 inch, with A (next to quilt) being 2 or so and then the 1/2 inch accent and the 3 1/2 outer. Take a look at Cosmic Twist, a bargello on this board.