bkay

I'm working on a donation quilt for my guild. It's a panel. It's bright, bright, bright! We pictured it going to a teenage girl. If Kaffe Fassett did cats, it would look like this.

The stumbling block is getting it from 32W by 44L to 47W by 62L. I'm planning on a 4" black border for a place to rest the eyes (also black binding). That gets me to 40 X 52. At this point, I need 7 inches added to the sides and 10 added to the length. There is no way to get there using the same size borders.

I'm planning on using piano key borders for the outside border. How do I fudge this combination of borders to get to the desired size with it looking somewhat normal? If I make smaller borders on the sides, will that look strange?

Of course, I could just make them the same and go on down the road. It's not like the guild won't give the quilt away or ask me to fix it. Then, I'm new to the guild this year, so I don't know exactly how much leeway I have.

The original plan we discussed was to use "shattered frames" from Angela Walters to enlarge the panel. It looked horrible, so I had to rethink the plan.

By the way, I have another similar panel, so I'll be doing this twice.

bkay

GingerK

I presume the current border around the cats is part of the panel. First, I would cut the current border off, then add a two to three inch black border to the cats. Then put cornerstones on the current border and add it back. Then, you can determine how much more you need and add it as a final border. You could also audition other colours for the borders. There are a lot to choose from. Just keep the fabric either solid or tone on tone or mottled. Cute panel.

As far as having different widths of borders for sides and top and bottom, I do it all the time and no, it doesn't look weird.

Rebecca_S

What about making the black border a little larger on the top and bottom than it is on the sides, does the black need to be 4"? Could it be 4" on the sides and 7" on the top and bottom, perhaps with some simple bias applique or fun quilting to fill the space?

Alternatively, could the piano keys on top and bottom be a thin 2" row, then a 1" black strip, then the 7" that are on the sides?

toogie

Here are just two examples where I have had to use slightly wider size, red and navy strips, on top and bottom, framing up my panel to get my desired size. Then the extreme size difference, that was required on my America the Beautiful panel. I don't think I would fret about a 3 inch difference, Divided into top and bottom that's only 1.5 inch (2 in more if you have't included seam).
I have even had to add a different star fabric, on the sides, to make up my actual 'panel' . I was hesitant to do this but all my group said it wasn't something you focused on if you did notice. Good luck and show us your tops when you finish!

bkay

Well, I did a "sort of" try out on the black border and the piano key border. It didn't work either. I tried it the piano keys on the bias and it looked better, but not exactly right.

I may try Ginger K's idea of cutting off the existing border, putting the black border first, and then adding back the panel border.

I'm going to play with the piano keys and see if I can't make them look less odd.

bkay

bkay

I give. Nothing I've tried has worked.

I found some coordinating fabric online and purchased it.

I want to gripe about how much I've spent on trying to make this work, but it's a lesson learned. Next time, if I can't make it work, I'll turn it back in and take another project.

bkay

b.zang

Work out your borders using the formula that each border is 1.5 times larger than the previous for the most aesthetically satisfying results. So, for instance, if the first border is 3", the next is 4.5", then 6" and so on. Add enough and you'll be close to your desired finished size.

charlottequilts

Thinking you meant 6.75 there. I hadn’t heard of that - sounds interesting. I dither a lot with borders, myself, so it could be very useful.

hugs, charlotte

SueZQ from MN

In my opinion, there is already so much color and print activity in the panel that a piano key border would be overwhelming. GingerK's idea to insert a border in the existing panel is excellent. Then I'd pick some of the coordinating primary colors from the print and alternate them with narrow black borders to get the size I wanted. That should tie all the colors together without adding any more patterns.

ctrysass2012

eQuilter has a pattern called Mystic Kitty that may work for you. It ends up being 70 x 54. I have a couple of panels that I'm going to try this pattern with.