15 Responses to “How to Make a Quilt Border: Cutting and Measuring” julie April 10th, 2014 . This past weekend I taught my Bargello Flower class and one of my samples, The Sunflower Quilt, has a checkerboard border on it. Six 5-1/2" strips can be cut from the border fabric (37" divided by 5-1/2" rounded down to the nearest whole number) Which makes a 252" continous border strip (6 times 42" usable WOF), clearly not enough for 256 inch piece needed. Sew on bottom border and then the left border. Pin the other width border in the same way. Strips lose 1/4 inch for each seam it takes to stitch them together, so allow a little extra length when cutting. Be sure to check out my QUILTsocial blog postings from September and October to see how to scan and use your own embroidered designs. Would have liked to seen how to do borders on a larger quilt where you would have to add to the border strip to make it long enough to fit the side of the quilt. Cut more as necessary. Then match up the ends and center point of your border and your top and pin in place. If you can mitre the corners, that gives a good effect to the wallhanging. Think of the ease of sewing one nice, long, straight hem–you can definitely sew one nice, long, straight hem! 3 Sew the side border strips to the quilt top and press the seam allowances toward the border strips. The quilting process alters the measurements of the quilt. Cut out 1 1/2-inch wide strips of fabric. // Leaf Group Lifestyle, Sewing Notions (thread, scissors, pins, etc. Checkerboard designs form when blocks of alternating light and dark squares are placed next to each other in a pieced border. When quilting with THE Dream Machine 2, you’ll love that extra-wide area between the needle and the LCD screen. It’s 11¼” wide – a real bonus for any machine quilter! QUILTsocial was created for all quilters, beginners and experts alike, to empower them with the skills, techniques, and creativity required to make quilts that will be cherished forever. Fold it back down again and continue the 1/4″ seam. For example, if your quilt measures 40" long and your border is 5" wide, you would cut your side border strips 56" long (40" + 10" + 6"). 2. For the past several years she has been designing patterns for new fabric collections by Northcott Fabrics. Loved your fabrics in the quilt you made. Quilting is a craft that has been popular for years. Place the strip sets right sides together, matching the outer edges. Tip: Sew together all 5 of your strips for the front border and then all 5 strips for the back border. The dual feed walking foot is pretty amazing too. While this may seem simple, there are several steps that need to be taken to ensure that the fabric is on the straight of grain and as flat as possible. Cut the side border strips to the average measurement from Step 3. Step 4 - Cut the Borders. I can't stress this enough... Be sure that the fabric you'll cut the strips from is square. You cut long strips of fabric, sew the edges together to create strip sets which are then cut one final time into shapes for quilt blocks. How To Add Borders to Your Quilts with Jenny Doan from ... - … Stitch strip 3 to strip 2 and its end to strip 1. Use built-in decorative stitches to create faux... From the light colored inner border fabric, cut 5 – 1¼” x WOF (width of fabric). From remaining 1¼” strips, cut 2 – 1¼” x 41″. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. You can use a four patch or nine patch units in checkerboard arrangements to achieve a stunning border. This project is so cute, and you can use the lovely braids for just about anything. ... C utting along the length of the fabric will ensure that there will be no stretch on your border when you sew it onto your quilt top. Pin the border's center to the center of the quilt's edge. Place pins every 4" or so connecting the border to the quilt edge. Cut a strip of cream fabric the same size. Lay out your quilt rows and sew them together with a straight stitch on your sewing machine, then sew the rows together to make the full front. One popular border technique is to have a narrow border first and then a wider border to finish the quilt top. Thank … Use lots of different… Stitch 4 to 1 and its end to 3. But if you’re an advanced sewer, a strip quilt is such a welcoming … This will be the length of the strips you'll cut. Privacy Policy - Contact us Copyright © 2021 A Needle Pulling Thread. Making beautiful borders with your walking foot, Making placemats using a modern disappearing 9 patch block. Piece border strips end-to-end to achieve length. Sew on the top border first, using a partial seam. To perfectly fit your borders, first measure the length of your quilt in the center, then on both ends. Measure the length of the quilt top (including the new borders). ... For yet another look try positioning the strips at an angle to the quilt with the angle changing direction at the center of each side. You're on your way to a flat border. From remaining 1¼” strips, cut 2 – 1¼” x 41″. For example, if your border will nish at 4" wide, then cut contrasting squares 4½" x 4½" (theyll nish at 4"), or piece quilt blocks that will nish at 4" square. Now is the time to add a hanging sleeve. Press to the border and measure again through the center. We're going to add strips to both sides of the quilt block first, and then add strips to the top and bottom to complete the border. The measured method will result in a flat quilt, one where the borders have no extra fabric to make quilting difficult. Step 1. Pin one width border to a width edge of the quilt top by placing right sides together and matching raw edges. Here's some math: my finished border width is 4". Simple yet effective free-pieced border for baby quilt. ... After setting your quilt blocks together with a simple sashing, you can then start adding borders to your quilt center. Lay the two side strips (one red and one white) one on top of the other exactly, RIGHT SIDES UP. Although it may seem to be a time saver to just lay a strip on the side, sew it down and cut off the excess, it really doesn't reduce the time by a significant amount. Stitch strip 1 to the end of strip 2, creating a 90-degree angle. Use a unique pin to signify center. THE Dream Machine 2: machine fusible applique and... Prepping and cutting fusible appliques with the ScanNCut2, Using strip sets to make quick and easy quilt blocks. That is a recipe for wavy borders. You can sew the upper edge into the binding, making one seam do the work of two. ... Often this will require you to piece a border … The last step to sewing the quilt top is to make and sew on the borders. Borders made with crosswise grain strips are somewhat more stretchy than lengthwise grain border strips, but either type is suitable. Be sure to come back tomorrow to learn about some other fun things you can do with the embroidery features on THE Dream Machine 2 by Brother. While for my first quilt I made the border of triangles and rhomboids drawn the old fashioned way with templates, I used speed methods to cut and piece this border. Flip the binding strip away from the body of the quilt so you can turn the corner. Press the fabric and place the selvages together. Make Continuous Crosswise Grain Quilt Binding Strips . If your strips aren’t long enough, just add a piece left … Finish sewing partial seam on top border. It does an excellent job of keeping all 3 layers of your quilt together so they don’t shift as you’re quilting. Fold the fabric one more time to have the fabric folded into four layers. You can stitch the plain border with squared corners or with mitered corners, depending on your expertise. The width could be as wide as you wish. Once the blocks have been sewn together, the quilt top is almost finished. Project ideas for using leftover fabric applique pieces! ). Sew both length borders to the length edges with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Cut the remaining fat quarter or scrap fabrics into 2″, 3″, and 4″ strips that are about 7½” long. To add the back, cut out the fabric squares and lay them on the ground pattern-side down. Piece together 2 strips for the front border and 2 strips for the back border the same length as the center of the quilt that you just measured. Wonders using the strip sets together along … checkerboard and scrappy quilt borders of these instructions, we will how! 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