bkay

I'm working on a quilt and decided on a piano key border. Most of the scraps I had were 2.5 inches wide (unfinished), so decided to go with that size. The keys are too wide (doesn't look right). I have to take the 2.5" keys apart as I don't have enough leftovers to start over completely. If I cut those in two, I'll end up with 3/4? (my brain won't calculate today) inch finished keys. Is that too narrow? It's possible that I could scrape together enough fabric to cut another size, but will have to do a lot of counting and calculating to know for sure.
What's your suggested size for piano keys on a small quilt? (The quilt will finish at about 70" by 64".)
bkay

Tartan

Piano keys can be any size you want them. If you can post a picture of your top and the 2-1/2 piano keys it would help. I like 2-1/2 inch for most piano keys myself.

QuiltnNan

Instead of altering the ones already cut, perhaps you could insert another size so they are varied?

Watson

Just as an example, I am currently doing a quilt with 1 1/2" (finished) piano keys.

I think it also depends how long they are as the proportion has to be right.

I was also thinking...Maybe instead of taking them all apart, you could just sew another seam down each line of sewing in 1/4" or whatever you decide to take off to make them smaller? It would save time and keep them from distorting from taking the stitches out. Would that work?

Watson

Onebyone

I sew strips together to make a small jelly roll race quilt then cut the width of the border I need. This is much faster way to make a piano key border. The width of the strips sewn together is personal preference.

maviskw

My piano keys are usually lots of different widths. I just make sure they are not wider than ? and not narrower than ? . Some of my really scrappy quilts have piano keys that are pieced in length also. One had every other key at least two different fabrics. Looks fantastic on a really scrappy quilt.

Cheshirepat

I think the 3/4" finished strip would be quite narrow, which is not saying it's bad, but maybe a bit tricky to do. I'm doing a throw-size quilt which is about 48" right now...the piano keys on it are 1.5" because I *had* strips that width from the main log cabin blocks, and it seemed cohesive to the overall pattern. At some point I considered doing *some* piano keys, then some solid pieces spaced on either side (with a complementary fabric) because I didn't have quite enough fabric of just the fabrics I'd used. Maybe an option?

KalamaQuilts

my piano key type borders have all been made from strings, none more than 1-3/4 inch wide. I've made them as wide as 8" and as narrow as 2".
If your blocks are large with few pieces, 2.5" would probably be ok, but personally I'd not use a strip that wide. In this case I agree with inserting a 1.5" every third 2.5" piece.

Jingle

I just make my piano key borders using what ever width I have. Usually varying the widths.

Your quilt your way.

bj

If you’re just wanting to half your 2 1/2” strips, they’ll end up 1 1/4” wide unfinished, 3/4” finished. That seems pretty narrow. If you don’t have plenty of fabric now, you may run short. Just let it stew in your thinker before you cut. Maybe put some scrap strips together just to get an idea what the narrower strips will look like. Good luck!