Border Thoughts
 

Usually I make my borders with one long strip of fabric, but with fabric so expensive now a days I really don't want to buy fabric with enough yardage length for making the border one piece.

There are no quilt police, but what are your thoughts in making a border (same fabric) in multiple pieces. With a wide border would you do it with mitered joins or straight joins. I also thought about putting in a 2 1/2" piece of one of the block fabrics in in the center where a seam would need to be, but evenly on each side. Or, just joining the border fabric together to make it long enough. Mostly, it would just be one join on each of the 4 sides.

That's funny as I just came here to ask the question, "Borders or not?" Anyways, I've always pieced my borders with a mitered seam, but, I would just as soon not put borders on unless the pattern makes them a necessity.

I think it’s fine to make do with what is in our stash. So if that means joining a border, why not.
I would do a mitered join. You can always plan your quilting to go over the join if you are
concerned about it showing.

I’ve had to piece borders before. Seems like mostly, once you quilt it, the joins don’t really show up very much. I do press the seam at the join open so it lays flatter, but that’s just my preference. If the fabric is a print, the join shows up even less. Good luck!

I like to make a block for each corner, picking a fabric that is dominant in the quilt. Usually it is all just one piece, but sometimes I will make a 4-patch that goes with the rest of the quilt top.

I have pieced borders many times. If there is a pattern to the border, I do a pattern match, so that is usually almost invisible. Many times, once quilted, it is almost impossible to see the seam. I just did a floral border last night, and didn't miter the corners. Sitting 10 feet away, and looking at it hanging up, I cannot see the joining seams from top to side.

I prefer a straight join. The time I tried a miter on a wider border, it was harder to get it to lay perfectly flat. I don't think a well pressed seam shows very much after it's quilted. I actually like a border cut crosswise better than one cut lengthwise. The little bit of 'give' in the crosswise helps 'fudge' discrepancies in the lengths of the sides of the quilt so it stays square (or rectangle).

I piece borders all the time when I am making larger quilts. Then I press the seams open, like other do here. I frequently do NOT miter the corners and the quilts always come out just the way I want it to.

I do a lot of pieced borders due to using my stash and not always having enough length. I prefer mitered joins and have had no trouble working with them.