How to Quilt>Borders for a Quilt

Designing a Quilt Border

It shouldn’t be too surprising to discover that there are rules about making borders in quilts.  Whether we choose to adhere to those rules is another story.  As I look at my quilts, I am glad I was ignorant of some of those rules. 

Or, maybe even knowing them, I would have taken pleasure in breaking them. But, that’s just me.  Maybe you will find value in knowing the historical Rules for Borders.

Tradition has it that the border of a quilt should echo the central motif of the quilt.  Sometimes the border may offer a harmonious contrast, but it should not outshine the central quilt design.

Likewise the width of the border should harmonize with the central theme of the quilt. One rule is that the border should be a little wider than each of the center blocks.  For example, if your quilt were made of 14 inch blocks, your border would be 18 inches.

The decoration of the border should include at least one motif from the central area, and one or two colors.  The fabric in the border should match the body of the quilt, and if you use a print in your quilt, you must use it in your border as well.

Let’s not tell many of today’s quilters, for many of them make quilts with no borders at all and many make quilts with medallions in the center that are tiny in comparison to the extravagant borders surrounding the medallion. 

Likewise, Joen Wolfrom noted in her Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation last month that she uses tons of different fabrics in her quilts, so she might run out of all that fabric and have none of it left for the border

Here are some of the borders on my finished quilts. Do they follow the rules?

The border is 8" and the blocks in the center are about 7." The fabric in the border includes fabric the same color as that in the batik cat squares in the center of each block.	This quilt has 3 borders - the inside narrow border and the outside border are the same fabric. None of the border fabric is used in any of the hearts in the center.	The border on this quilt is about 1/2 as wide as the blocks, and some of the fabric is new, other fabric is used in the blocks.

I will readily admit that I made many quilts before I knew that there were special rules about borders. And I'm not sure that I would categorize the borders on my quilts as "bad" or "awful."

My suggestion is to use the fabric and the design that you like. Use the rules as a guideline for beginning your border design if you wish.

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren

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©2009, Penny Halgren
Penny is a quilter of more than 27 years who seeks to interest new quilters and provide them with the resources necessary to create beautiful quilts.

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