quiltlady1941

I did a search on how to add boarder and most said to measure in the middle of the quilt and cut to size..

could you just cut your boarders the width you want for the quilt and make the length longer then the quilt and sew it on and then cut off what is left over... do you think this would work? Thanks

PaperPrincess

This is not advisable. It's very easy to stretch either your top or the border and wind up with waves, usually in the border. Quilt will not lay flat. Another problem is just distorting one side, so one side winds up longer than the other.

Jingle

I fold top in half lengthwise and lay a border strip on that fold. I softly smooth it out each way. I mark both ends and cut. I lay that piece ontop of the second piece and measure and cut to the same length. I do the top and bottom border strips the same way. Putting the sides on first takes less fabric. This method gives me staight borders. There are several ways to do just about anything.

Onebyone

I lay the border strip down the middle and across the middle and cut to fit. I then sew the borders on easing as needed. Simple and quick for flat borders.

GingerK

And I take a slightly different, more mathematical approach. I figure out how long the border should be if I have sewn everything with perfect seams. (for example: six 12 inch blocks +five 2 inch sashing equals [72+10] 82 inches--plus 1/2 inch for seam allowances). I then measure the center of the quilt. If the two amounts are very similar, I then cut the border, quarter border and quilt, pin and sew.

IF I have a problem like with my DHG with lots of bias edges, I will take the figured out size and mark where each block and each sashing should be and then ease the extra fullness as I go. Again, for my bias edged DHG, I actually halved the length of each block as well and pinned pinned pinned!! I was thrilled when this method worked and let me ease in so much extra fabric very evenly.

bearisgray

Dhg -disappearing hourglass?

I do just about like gingerk does - she explained it well - excpt I do add about an extra inch on each end "just in case" - occasionally I will need an extra 1/4 inch or so - and I would rather cut off a bit than be short a bit.

I also do a lot of marking and matching.

Melanie Rudy

You need to measure at the middle and then ease in your edges to have a nice squared up quilt. This is also important when you get to the sandwich and quilting stages. Your LA Quilter will be happier too.

bearisgray

It can be done - but the reasons many people use the measure first methods are:

1) One can end up with the two sides of the quilt being uneven lengths

2) One can end up with wavy/ruffled/fried bacon borders - which are a bother to quilt and

3) It's a lot harder to fold or display a quilt that has uneven and/or ruffly sides

Sync

When I add my borders I take 3 measurements .... First, the middle and then each side. In a perfect world all 3 measurements should be the same, if they aren't, I add the measurements together, then divide by 3 and that is the size I will cut to. I do this for top/bottom and side/side borders and it makes for a nice straight no wave border

ghostrider

Like most have already said, I use the center vertical and horizontal measurements to cut borders. I also make sure to crease (pinching works fine) the center of each side of the quilt top and each border, match up the quilt and border center creases and ease any excess fabric evenly from both ends, repeating for each border. Additionally, I cut borders on the lengthwise grain for less stretch.