When I started quilting 20 years ago I couldn't afford quilting books and certainly didn't have any internet access to look at how other people did things. I had read how to miter somewhere that it said to fold the quilt at the corner in a 45 degree angle, draw a line out to the edge of the border pieces, and sew on that line. That didn't always come out right for me and I was dissatisfied with the results. What I wanted was that knife-edge straight line I got when I pressed the miter so I came up with a way to keep that nice edge and alignment.

I don't know if anyone else does this and I haven't seen it anywhere so, here goes with a tutorial on it.

When I am mitering a corner I still measure the quilt through the middle and instead of cutting the border that length (you need more length past the ends for the miter), I use a fabric marking pen and mark the quilt edge line on the border. If your border is 6" wide then you need to have at least 6" past the edge of the quilt. I add at least 1" past the needed length.

Sew the first two opposite sides of the border on as usual. Mark and sew the second two opposite sides the same way and be sure to start and stop the stitching exactly at the edge of the quilt, don't sew into the opposing border at the corners.

Lay the top on a pressing board, making sure it is square, and carefully press the borders.

Lay the second border over the first making sure it is square and flat.

Fold under the top border strip so that it makes a 45 degree angle on top of the bottom one. If you have stripes or something you can line the up on the inside and the outside edges.

Without moving the piece stick pins along the exposed edges to hold them in place.

Carefully fold the quilt top back exposing more of the borders. Pin again to keep them from moving.

Carefully keep folding the top back until it is flat and the pressed line is exposed.

Smooth the border down with your hands and pin on the other side of the pressed line.

Slip a finger under the edge an up to the first pin. Gently lift the material and the pin, make sure the pin stays in both layers of fabric but comes out of the pressing board. Pin both layers together.

Pin, Pin, Pin. Keep moving up the line and securing each pin. I then pin across the pressed line so that it doesn't move as I sew it.

Sew on the pressed line. I do this slowly and I also leave the pins in, going very slowly over the pins so I don't hit them with the needle.

Press with a very hot iron, don't use steam. In fact, I almost never use steam on anything as it can really distort your piecing.

After I made sure that the seam is how I want it I fold the borders back and trim off the excess.

Ta Da! A nicely mitered corner that is square too.

If you are using a patterned fabric that you want the motif to match in the corners then back at the step of attaching the borders make sure that the center point of each border piece is at the same point in the pattern repeat. They should meet up well at the corners.

Pam - you're a mind reader - I was just admiring your mitre on the thread about this quilt and wondering how you get it so perfect! I'll give this a go! Thanks so much!

Awesome tutorial!!! You sure can get a perfect mitre...I will give this a try :D Thank You :D :D :D

WOW! Great tutorial!! I was wondering how to do mitered borders and haven't taken the time to find it in my books yet.

Thanks Pam!!

Kyia

excellent tutorial

Thanks for the tutorial, Pam. I have a scrap quilt I've been dying to make, but I keep putting it off because I didn't know how to do a mitered border. This will sure help! :D

Finally directions and pics that make sense to me. Thank you

great tutorial!!! and love that fabric!

You're all welcome. I have found it to be the only way that I can get a near perfect miter. Matching up stripes, which a lot of border fabrics have, is about impossible for me to do otherwise.

I have been putting off making borders with mitres. Now tho' I will give it another go thanks to your tutorial. It is great, very helpful. Thank you so much!! Dianne

Thank you so much for the tutorial, anxious to get started finishing the quilt as I have been fretting over this border for some time.

do you do each border separately or do you strip-sew all the borders together and then treat them as one border?

I haven't tried the stacked borders yet. I've seen it and keep meaning to but then forget about it. If I had remembered on the last quilt I would be done with it now instead of needing to do another border.

:lol:

Not sure how I missed this, but it sure looks easy enough. Miters always scare me
THANK YOU

Thank you so much for the mitered corner tut! I really appreciate it, I bookmarked it for later.

I miter most of my corners without too much problem. Thanks for the great tutorial. I can't wait to try your way.

Grat tutorial, I have avoided most of the mitered corners and will be more likely to consider them now, thank you so much.

Hope it works out for you. It may look like a clunky way to do it but, I just didn't like the results I got trying other ways.

Everyone finds what works for them.

Thank you so much !!!!
:D :D :D awesome tutorial
I was was wondering how these borders are being done.....They are so beautiful...
Thank you :lol: :lol: :lol:

Wow! that is some mitered corner. Thanks for the tut. Will have to try it.

I am so intimidated by mitered corners. Thank you for a great tutorial!

Cool! This is synchronicity for me! I was trying to decide if I should ATTEMPT a mitered border for the quilt I'm making now, or just do strips like normal. Now I will give this a try! :)

thanks I think this will help at least i will give it a try

Loved your little barn or cabin is it alright if I do a painting of it ?

I am totally impressed with your tutorial. But I do have a question. You say to fold one border back under at a 45
and press. Your 45 is so great, do you measure, mark then iron to get that perfect 45?

I know when someone gets really proficient they use shortcuts as they are so familiar with process but ............needless to say
fumble fingers here.

Thank you again for your great show. Love your fabric
it is beautiful.

I don't actually measure the 45 angel, I just fold the fabric back until it is in a straight line from the inside to the outside corner. Having a striped or other specific border fabric helps because I just line up where the pattern lines meet in the corner.

Very useful instruction. Thanks.
:D

Once again - thank you for your wonderful help. Here I go....