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I decided to put a Shark Tooth Border on my Affairs of the Heart Quilt. Actually there will be 3 rows of these borders as the quilt progresses, but for now I'm making one around the center 16 blocks. I thought I should put up here how I did this border for those who might not 1) know what a Shark Tooth Border is & 2) have no idea how to go about making one for their quilt.

I will start by saying that the inner unit has 4 rows of 4 - 10" blocks. That means that if I cut everything correctly, I will need 4 borders of 40 1/2" which includes the seam allowance. I did measure through the center - both ways & I got it right!

I drew out a small drawing of a 10" segment of the border.

Drawing of segment for part of the border. This is 1 1/2 wide by 10 long. I marked every 2 along the long side. I used my 6 1/2 square ruler & laid it on the 45° angle line, drawing a line from the bottom edge up to over halfway past the middle.

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I went back along that long side with the ruler angled the other way to complete the triangles.

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I added seam allowances all aroud. I drew a line 1/4 above the points of the triangles to determine how wide I needed to cut the strip of multi-colored fabric. I needed 1 1/2 by the Width of the Fabric.

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After I cut the multi-colored batik strip, I drew a line 1/4 from one long edge. I marked the end of the strip & every 2 along the length. When I had 40 , I marked the other end. The marks go from the seam line to the opposite side. These will be cutting lines.

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Next, I cut all the short lines & cut off the ends. I left no seam allowance at the short ends of the strips. Don't cut all the way through. ☺

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Next comes the pressing of the teeth. Place the strip with the markings facing up. The bottom row of teeth shows one edge pressed. The top strip shows both edges pressed. You now have a 40 long strip of Sharks Teeth ready to be appliqued!

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Now you need to mark the background strip. I cut this piece 2 wide by the width of the fabric. I trimmed it down to 40 1/2 to add the seam allowances. For marking, alll I did was mark 1/4 at one end, then every 2 until I got to the other edn, which left me with the other 1/4 seam allowance. Then you need to match the little hash marks with the innie point of each triangle all the way down the line. Pin in place.

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This shows the strip pinned and ready to stitch down. I was so anxious to get this sewn that I forgot to set the stitch length to a longer stitch so it would be easier to remove after appliqueing was finished. Remembered after I did the 3rd one!!! Safety reminder - don't sew over your pins!

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Here I am stitching away. I had considered doing it by machine, but since the blocks are all hand stitched. I decided that I would continue with the hand stitching. You can see how short my machine stitches were. Oh, well, I have finished one strip & removed the stitches. It wasn't too bad as I wasn't using tiny stitched like I usually do for piecing, but used the defaule length of 2.2. I am using a light grey thread as this is a multi-colored batik. Blending in very nicely.

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Remove the basting stitches. Trim out the background fabric.

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Trim out the folded over pieces of the teeth, but leave a little edge visible. When we were all taking Home Ec, this was called grading the seam. I did it to reduce the bulk gradually.

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You are now ready to sew it to your quilt top. I haven't figured out how I am going to do the corners, yet as I had no idea how I was going get this far! I will be sewing them on to the center unit with the points facing out towards the next row of blocks that surround this center unit.

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Here is one side of the center unit with one strip placed along side so you can get an idea of how this will look when sewn on. When I took this picture, I hadn't appliques the teeth down yet.

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This is a close-ip of the border.

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thanks for the tut. i didn't know how to do that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuiltnNan

thanks for the tut. i didn't know how to do that.

Me either, but the internet was down today, so I figured it all out. Wasn't all that hard.

Thank you for the tute! I love the sharks tooth on this center :D:D:D

thanks for the tutorial

great, someday I will try this.

Amma, if you go look under the Affairs of the Heart Topic List, look for the thread for finished quilts. Lesley's top is there. She did a curvy set of borders that I really liked, but didn't want to flat out copy. Was shopping for border fabric for this & this fabric grabbed me by the ankles & screamed at me to take her home. I listened & am ever so glad I did. I can't wait to see what it looks like with the border sewn all around the center unit.

That was awesome. Thank you!!

Oh dear sis....I told you I wouldn't use this on my AOTH...I might have lied!! It looks fabulous with yours and wow...looks fairly easy too, thanks to your tute!

Oh, Kathy, I added this to the AOTH topic list because it really is part of the project.

Oh wow, that really pops. Well done.

Great tut. Love the quilt

Great tute, Kathy, and I love your border with your center blocks. Going to be gorgeous.

Patti, thanks for adding it to the Topics List - I plum forgot to!!!

I can't believe how easy this has been. I've nearly got the second strip finished. However, I really haven't thought about the corners & how or what to do with them. I'm not a great miterer, but was thinking about a 1/2 square triangle unit in each one. Look would be similar. When I get the other strips finished, I'll make a couple of them & try it out.

WOW!!!!! Thanks so-o-o-o much for this tute!!!!!! I just might have to do that for my borders!!!! :thumbup: :thumbup:

Kathy, it looks great, and a whole lot easier than my version - I had imagined it was like individual prairie points attached, but this is much easier and VERY effective. Re corners, perhaps a little square on point in a square? Just an idea.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lacelady

Ooooo! I like that idea!!! After I got the 4 strips ready to stitch, I looked at the pic of the quilt with the same border - darn it all, I should have put 1/2 triangles at each end, then a half-square triangle unit would work perfectly, but I really lke the idea of a square within a square!!! Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuiltswithConvicts

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lacelady

You are welcome. Looking forward to pics!

your quilt is going to be fabulous, thanks for sharing the tute...

Thanks for the tut Kathy. I've been starting to put different borders on things just to try them out. And I love your quilt. You do such nice work. Katie

Thank you soooo much for this tute! Your quilt is, and will be, beautiful when completed. Don't forget to post pics of finished product!
Hester

Great tute and very easy to follow. thanks Kathy. Now I know how

Hi'ya, Katie! How have you been? Can you believe how hot it's been and so dry!!!

Thanks for the tute.

Very nice elegant teeth. I love it

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuiltswithConvicts

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lacelady

I did it as separate squares flap twice and attatched

P.S. Here is a pic of the border attached to the center unit. I ended up taking Lacelady's (Lesley'a) suggestion of putting a square in a square for the corners. Did sort of a floating appliqued square. Next time I will pay closer attention to how its supposed to turn the corners. The next part of this quilt is 20 more vlocks ina single row around the center, then another Shark Tooth Border, this time facing toward the inside, a large border and then anothe Shark Tooth Border to finish it all off

Border finished and attached

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That is absolutely the perfect border for your quilt. The colors pick up the colors in the blocks beautifully. Great job, Kathy.

Stunning!! I really like the square in a square corner blocks :D:D:D

I looked up LaceLady's like you suggested, I really like her scalloped borders too :D

That looks so good,really thing that sets it all off well. You did that so quickly too

ty that is really pretty

It looks really great Kathy - and the subsequent borders will really set the whole quilt off.

What a great tutorial, and a stunning quilt! I can't wait to see it finished.

WHat a beautiful quilt!

Stupid question - are these like prarie points?

Absolutely gorgeous!

Thank you....I learned something new today!

Thanks for the tutorial (GREAT JOB!) and for posting pictures of that beuatiful quilt to see the impact the border makes.