thescarletquilter

When I'm in a quilt shop I'll see a fabric that would be great for a border and would love to buy it. I don't have a particular project in mind, but it could be the perfect fabric for a future quilt, but I'd want to make sure I bought enough of the fabric. When I make my borders, I usually just cut the pieces for the border from selvage to selvage. I've been reading how it's better to use the lengthwise grain for borders because it doesn't stretch. So, say you have a quilt that is 95 x 95, and you'll be adding a 6" border. How much fabric would you buy for that border if you'll be cutting the border on the lengthwise grain? If budget was not an issue, would you buy 3 yards so you have one uncut piece for each border or would you buy less and piece the border? If you bought the 3 yards, you would still have a little less than half of the width of the fabric left (not that this is a problem!) Does this make sense?

Victoria

toverly

Are you purchasing striped borders? If so, I would say buy your 3 yards so you don't have a seam and don't have to pattern match. I never make quilts longer than 72 inches and prefer solid borders so, I would probably buy 2 yards.

katier825

If you buy 3 yards, that's 108". That would be big enough for most quilts. You would need 4 strips x whatever width you want. For 6" borders, you'd cut 6.5" strips x LOF. That would leave you about 14" x LOF for leftover. Enough to use on another quilt, such as for inner borders, binding, or save to cut up for pieces in another quilt.

Tartan

If I want a wide long border, I do buy a length of fabric the whole length plus the size of the border girl mitered corners. If it is a narrow border, I usually just cut it from the longest fabric I have and do the 45* joins.
You can avoid buying extra fabric if you can add cornerstones or other design elements into the border. I have sometimes carried the quilt block square out into the same width border with a block on each border.

Prism99

When I was interested in adding to my stash, I would buy 3 yards. Nowadays I usually don't buy on spec because I want to see if there's something I can use from stash to decrease it!

dunster

In general (not always) when I make a quilt with borders I like to use some of the border fabric within the quilt, so it's integrated with the other fabrics. That means that the leftover fabric isn't really left over. And if it isn't all used in the quilt top, then it can be used in the back or binding. Or in the next quilt. In your example of the 95" quilt plus 6" border, notice that two of the borders will need to be 107". Since 3 yards is 108", that might be enough to allow for uneven cutting by the fabric shop, shrinkage, etc. Better get 3.25 yards unless the cut is really generous.

ckcowl

I generally purchase at least 3 yards (108") when I see a fabric that would be great for borders. if I think I will use it for multiple quilts I will buy 6.

Podunk Princess

I usually buy 3 to 5 yards depending on how much I like the fabric.

Jackie Spencer

I don't like to piece my borders, so I always buy at least 3 yards.

ManiacQuilter2

When doing a queen size quilt (appx 90" x 108"), I would always buy 3 yards for the border plus any additional fabric if you were using it for piece in the quilt. This ONLY works if you border is NOT over 10" wide. Good Luck !!