ive made them scrappy- themed- color coordinated- all the same widths- an assortment of widths (like anything from 1" up to 3" and all widths in between) you can make them any way you want-
that works for your project-
i generally cut strips & sew long strips together- then cut them to the width of the border i desire. no foundation needed.

Wow...such quick responses and I thank you all so much...:o All very well explained with so many options!

When I can't think of a border to do on a quilt, I default to piano keys. Great way to use up extra fab from the quilt. Sometimes they are the same width and sometimes dif widths. Just depends on my mood. No foundation fabric. I think this is a no stress border. Have fun w/it!

I love the piano keys border. Usually I make them in fabrics from within the quilt in uniform size...about 1 1/2" x 4" or so. I vary the placement of colors just to enhance the look...too many darks side by side wouldn't be as attractive as some mediums and lights sprinkled in randomly, in my opinion. It's a great way to use your left-over fabric and enrich a quilt. I've never used a foundation fabric for this but I do for the chevron border.

Thanks for asking the question, I'll be watching the answers as I want to this border, too.

I take leftovers from the quilt, coordinating colors, and/or anything that's lying around. I usually strip piece long 2-1/2" WOF strips into strip sets, cut them in half, sew the two halves together, cut them down, etc. until I get the width I want. I know that I can get nine 4-1/2" or eight 5" widths from a WOF strip, so if my quilt is 100" square I need about 25 strips for the border.

I have also done two piano key borders. The first was on a Bali Love Song where all strips were uniform size and random colors side by side. The other had random sizes and colors. I, too, used only the colors that were in the quilt and just varied them so that the colors weren't repeated too closely together. I really like the piano keys border. It adds a little whimsy, I think.

I've made the keys equal and unequal. I do like using unequal because it it easier to come out with appropriate size strips. (For example, if they were all to finish at 2" and you just have the need for 1 1/2" at the end, it shows up). I do them various widths and then miter the corners, knowing that the seams don't have to match. It is still quite effective. I'll try to insert a picture. This is a Double Disappearing Nine Patch.




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And the rest of the binding still needs the hand work.

I agree with ckcowl and have never had a problem. I do stay stitch the outside edge before putting it on the qulting machine.

QUOTE=ckcowl;5284293]ive made them scrappy- themed- color coordinated- all the same widths- an assortment of widths (like anything from 1" up to 3" and all widths in between) you can make them any way you want-
that works for your project-
i generally cut strips & sew long strips together- then cut them to the width of the border i desire. no foundation needed.[/QUOTE]