Please help!!!!

I have a hard time quilting the last border of a quilt. I am machine quilting by “meandering”. It seem like I always get wrinkles and such. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated. I always make sure the entire quilt is well pinned, should I pin the border even more?

Thanks to all of you.

Debbie :(

Just a wild stab at it - I wonder if you are somehow moving wrinkles from the entire body of the quilt out towards the borders when you are basting. Also, are the corners of the quilts pretty square? How large are the borders? I also suggest spray basting if you aren't already using it.

Before I pin the quilt I place the backing on my kitchen table and secure with large binder quilts, then the batting, then the quilt top smoothing each layer before placing the binder clips. I place the clips about 18 inches apart around the entire table.

The large outside border was 6 inches and the smaller inside border was 3 inches.

On the next one will make double sure the corners are square and all the wrinkles are smoothed and will try the spray.

Any more suggestions will be great.

Thanks Debbie

Debbie, sometimes the border problem was there before the quilting. Make sure you measure the center of quilt in both directions and cut the borders to match. If you are doing side borders first, measue the middle of quilt lengthwise, and cut those borders. Pin the resulting border and make it fit the outside. After pressing that border out, measure the width of quilt in center and cut your top and bottom borders that width.

Too often when sewing on a border, we make the mistake of not measureing the center of the quilt and sewing on an oversized border. While to some that may make sense, as it is a straight seam, the border will inevitably grow. This is often the reason that borders balloon. It can't be helped, there are too many seams on the outside of a quilt. It may be too late for this quilt, but please consider what I am saying for your next project.

Have a good holiday. I am sorry I could not be more helpful.

Boo, This is excellent advice. That has been a problem for me many a time, until that tip became known to me. You're so smart. 8)

Yes, Boo is quite brilliant. One of the nice things about this board is that we can all learn when someone asks a question.

Merry Christmas, all!

Thanks, Boo, I will be starting to cut for another one tomorrow after work. I will print your suggestion out and put it in my quilt notebook. Thanks to all