wavy borders

[Charlotte G.]

I made a red, white and blue block of the month quilt and have had some real trouble with the borders. I don't know if the fabric stretched (I cut it on the length of grain) or whether I am doing something wrong. I THOUGHT I measured correctly and actually took the borders off and remeasured and started again and it still is not perfectly flat altho' it is somewhat better. I mitered the corners and now I am wondering if the problem stems from the miters? HELP !

[Betty J.]

MizScarlet, I love your screen name. It's kind of hard to know without seeing it..and I'm no expert on borders, but I do have a few ideas (taken from my own problems I've had in the past). Maybe the part next to the border stretched along the edge before you stitched it on. Sometimes ironing both the border pieces and the quilt top flat with spray starch before stitching can help fix this. Also, more density of stitching in one place and less in another makes things wavy, if you are at the quilting stage, but it doesn't sound like that. Also, your miters can cause a little wave if you have it just a little longer than it needs to be and eased in the difference without intending to. I usually glue mine together before I stitch them (using the Sharon Schamber method) which is shown on her site in some of her free video sections. It changed my mitering and borders for the better.

[Teri L.]

When I measure for borders I measure through the center of the quilt top then I pin the border on. That way if there has been any stretching I can take care of it in pinning and stitching. I'd also incorporate the spray starching and steaming, depending on what else is going on with the quilt.
Did you miter the corners before or after you attached the borders to the quilt top?

Teri

[Teri L.]

i did have it before until i used the length of the fabric to the borders and not the other direction. in addition i havey starch it before i cut it. that way it has very little room to streach in any way. good luck, in addition see sharonschamber.com about it, she gives a very useful information!

[Charlotte G.]

Thank you all for your responses. I did not use the spray starch and will definitely look into the Sharonschamber.com site. I did cut on the length wise grain and not cross grain and I did the miters after I put the borders on. I also had a one inch border around each square and I am wondering now if that is not the part that stretched as was suggested on one of the replies. I love the quilt top but do not want to quilt it until I feel good about the borders so I appreciate any input you can give.

[Paula D.]

Thou shalt not be too proud to pin pin pin!

[Paula D.]

and if you pin, do it from two sides to begin with and then pin to the middle !

[Teri L.]

I pin the middle first then pin the corners. Then I find the mid way points on both the quilt and the border and pin. I work one side this way until it's pinned, then I work the other side. This allows me to see where the fullness is coming in. I stitch with which ever side has more fullness on the top then when I get to that pin I can stretch the topside to accommodate the fullness. When I'm finished I'll steam like crazy.

Teri

[Margo C.]

I pin the middle first then pin the corners. Then I find the mid way points on both the quilt and the border and pin. I work one side this way until it's pinned, then I work the other side. This allows me to see where the fullness is coming in. I stitch with which ever side has more fullness on the top then when I get to that pin I can stretch the topside to accommodate the fullness. When I'm finished I'll steam like crazy.

Teri

Teri, the next time you have significant fullness to ease in between two pins, try putting the fullness on the BOTTOM! If you gently tug on the two layers at the next pin, the feed dogs will ease that fabric in for you as you stitch. You would be surprised at how much extra fabric can be taken up that way! I know that you can't see the fullness this way like you can when its on the top layer, but if you know there are places with extra fullness, you can work that way from pin to pin.

[Teri L.]

That's what I meant to say, put the fullness on the bottom so the feed dogs will ease it in. That's what happens when I post before having enough coffee in the morning. =-)

[Margo C.]

[Pamela O.]

Agree with Margo and Terri. I lay both borders across the middle of the quilt and cut at the same time. There is no confusion in measuring the borders separately. Of course when you are mitering, you have to add the extra for the 2 miters. Good luck.

[Mary K.]

I'm with Margo about having the fullness on the bottom. We call that "baggy bottom" around here and it can really help to suck up extra material. I also measure my quilt top across three areas of the quilt and take the average measurement of the three for the borders. Sometimes the sides can really stretch. Good Luck.

[Mary K.]

When I am ready to add borders I measure through the center of quilt and cut 2 border strips from the lengthwise grain of the fabric. I fold the border strips in half and put a pin in the middle. I match the center of the border strip with the center of the side of the quilt and pin it together. I then work from the center out pinning every few inches til I get to one end. I then move from the center to the other end. If I have more or less quilt than border I look at the seams on the edge of the quilt where I am pinning and see if they have "opened" or are not the 1/4 inch they should be. I restitch the serious offenders and then finish pinning the border. If the border is less than a 1/4 inch off you can generally ease it in without effecting the flatness and squareness of the quilt. I repeat for the opposite border and then press. I then measure through the center of the quilt the other way cut those 2 borders and repeat the process. If I find I need to repair some seams when I am pinning the first border on I will do repairs all the way around the quilt at the same time. I add the long side borders first then the top & bottom borders.

Judi

[Margo C.]

Excellent instructions, Judi! Thanks! I find that when I'm quilting it's lots easier to disguise fullness in the center of the quilt than it is to control friendly (waving) borders!