Posts Tagged "Pieced Border"

The last of the donation quilts in this batch for the Houma Guild to give to the children’s home.

This is one of my favorite borders.  There’s a little guide to making this quilt and this border here.

Ready for quilting . . that is!

Didn’t even take the time to pick the strings off of it since I have to fold it up and take it home anyway.  Seven borders but worth the effort.  Love the pieced border on this one. Love the blocks too.  Heck, I love it all . . guess that’s why I made it!

Does it seem to you like it’s been forever since I had a quilt related post?  Well, it seems that way to me too.

Remember when I had to hurry up and make a quilt because I couldn’t find the blocks I’d already made and had a deadline?  This week I received the quilt back from Kansas City Star.

Simple framed pinwheels and one of the borders I shared in this post.   I even used leftover strips for the binding.  Maybe eventually I’ll come across the first set of blocks (and my ipod) and I’ll have two quilts!

The main question many seem to be asking me is “How do you come up with border designs?” The answer is:  I don’t know!  They just happen! Does that answer your questions?   I thought not.

I generally start with a very basic block.  Often it’s part of a block that was used in the quilt.  I have no rules.  Sometimes it seems that  squarish type border blocks fit with roudish type quilt blocks and sometimes it seems squarish border blocks go better with square quilt blocks.  This is where I find Electric Quilt to be essential.  I can audition different blocks, different portions of blocks, color portions of them differently . . so much I would never dream of doing if I were doing it only with real fabric.

Here’s an example of how I would go about finding a border to work with this particular top.  This is a simple square/rectangular block.  If it resembles something someone else has done, there’s no intention on my part to do so . . just a simple block.

The center with just blocks.

This is the blocks I chose to play around with for creating a border:

Border Block

All of the drawings below use only that one block in the pieced border except for the very last rhree, which use a partial quarter square triangle in the corners.  Some of these borders I wouldn’t use; some I will use over and over again but remember, every one of these borders came from this one simple block.

Depending on how the pieced border looks to me, I’ll add different straight borders, either to frame the pieced border or help disguise that it’s such a simple block.

Some of the differences are very subtle but do you see how many designs you can come up with . . even using just a simple little square?

By using a coping or fudge strip, we can make any pieced border fit our quilt tops.   In order to make a pieced border fit your own top, follow these easy steps.  Take each step, one at a time, in order.  Don’t worry about step 3 til you’ve finished steps 1 and 2.  Don’t make it hard — it’s so easy!

1. Width of quilt (NOT counting seam allowance):   (A) _____________
2. Size blocks you want to use in  your border: (B) ____________
3. Number of blocks that fit closest to your width – divide (A) by (B) = (C)___________ (round up to whole number)
4. Multiply (B) x (C) = (D)________________
5. Subtract (D) – (A) = (E)_________________
6. (E) divided by 2 = (F)______________
7. (F) plus seam allowances is the size of the coping strip you need to add to the left and right sides of your quilt to make the desired top/bottom border fit.

You will do the same thing for the length of the quilt and this will be for your top and bottom borders.

Example:  The example I’m using is made up of 10″ (finished) blocks and is set 4 blocks across and 5 blocks up and down, with a 2″ sashing.

1. My quilt as drawn, is 46″ x 58″.  A = 46″.
2. I want to use a 5″ block in my border.  B = 5″.
3. Divide (A) by (B).  46 divided by 5 = 9.2 so I need 10 blocks.  C = 10.
4. B X C = D    5″ blocks x 10 blocks = 50″.  D = 50″.
5. D – A = F.  50″ border width – 46″ quilt top width = 4″.  E = 4″.
6. E divided by 2 = F.  4 divided by 2 = 2.  F = 2″.
7. Add 1/2″ (1/4″ for the two sides) to the ” (F) measurement and this is the size of the coping strip, which in this case will be 2-1/2“.  This is the size of the left and right border to be added to the above example in order to make a top and bottom pieced border made of 5″ blocks fit perfectly.  46″ (width of top as shown above) + 2″ (left border) + 2″ (right border) = 50″.  10 blocks x 5″ = 50″.  Perfect!

Do the same thing with your length measurement (in this example it’s 58″) to get the size of the coping strip you would add to make those 5″ blocks fit.

The border I used on my dad’s quilt is the same border as on the Poinsettia quilt on the free patterns page.  Also, for those using EQ6, it’s one of their “auto borders”.  Simple, simple, simple with EQ.

The “X” sashing square that was used was explained in this post.