No mimi- only half that much all the way around. Remember you are sewing ALL around your quilt so you need to divide what you need by half. You said your quilt measures 53 1/2" right? then you need an inch to make it 54 1/2". You really only need a very thin border of 1/2" on each side plus your seam allowance, they are always such a pain in the you know what, but you have to consider that little devil 1/4" seam. You really need a strip of 3/4" all the way around. What I do is add on a 1" and then measure carefully to 54 1/2"...cut off the extra little bit if there is any, that is if I was off just a little bit somewhere, I can square up the quilt before I add the next border and it won't be easy to notice if that wee border is a little wider here and there. Does that make sense? Just remember on any border...if you need say 2" more to make it what you want....that really means 1" because you are adding to "each" side of the quilt plus add that seam allowance.
Last edited by jaba; 05-13-2014 at 06:16 PM.