Perfect Borders for Perfect Shaped Quilts -
Every Time!

Learn How to Measure to Get Perfect Borders - Even Complicated Pieced Borders!     Who would have believed that wandering around a quilt shop these days could be almost like a visit to a bakery? A quick look at a counter top and you will probably discover Layer Cake fabric bundles, Honey Buns, Fat Quarters and Jelly Rolls - maybe even more. Just like tasty pastries, each has a different attraction and, using any of them, you can create a beautiful heirloom quilt. Now you can have the best tools at your fingertips to ensure that you maximize your pre-cut fabrics - and have enough fabric to make the quilt you want to make. Tell me more - - -

 

You've spent hours creating a beautiful quilt top, and now it's time to add borders. The most obvious way to measure your quilt for borders is to run a tape measure or ruler along the sides of your quilt.

That was the way I used to do it, and the result was several quilts that were misshapen. Not bad, but still not square or rectangle - kind of wavy. When the kids are using the quilts, it doesn't really matter, but when you are making a quilt to hang on a wall or use on your bed, that's entirely different!

In a quilt workshop along the way, a teacher shared this secret:

The sides of a quilt tend to stretch as you sew, and often there are tiny pieces (say 1/8") of fabric that don't totally fit in. Those inconsistencies make the measurements "off."

A better way is to take several measurements across the middle of the quilt top. I lay my quilt top on a flat surface and use either a tape measure or a ruler to measure several places across the quilt. (When the quilt is small enough, I use a ruler since it is more accurate.)

For the top and bottom borders, I measure from side to side across a seam line that goes all the way across the quilt. If your quilt has sashing, measure along a seam line where the sashing is attached to blocks.

If there is no sashing, pick a line where a row of blocks meets the next row of blocks.

The idea is to measure along a line where the fabric is less likely to stretch.

Pick several places - I measure at least 3 places in the middle of the quilt.

Then take a kind of average - using your judgment. As you measure, you may see that there are some places that can be trimmed away from the quilt top and will make your quilt a more consistent shape.

In addition to measuring your borders correctly, there is a trick to adding the borders to ensure that they are placed right along the sides of your quilt top.

Check out this video that shows you how to measure your quilt for borders:

Discover more creative ideas for borders:

Use Flying Geese for Borders
Try Broken Geese for Borders
Measure your Borders Accurately
Use Blocks as Borders
Use Simple Strips as Borders
Change the Colors of Your Blocks for Borders

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren
Master Quilter

Penny is a quilter of more than 29 years who seeks to interest new quilters and provide them with the resources necessary to create beautiful quilts.

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