Wavy Boarders

[Karen G.]

I am working with my neighbor to make a memory quilt for her grandson's HS graduation. She used T shirts with iron on pellon stablizer.

Her quilt top was flat and square until she sewed the boarders on... Now the boarder waves.... I do not know what to tell her to help the problem because I have never dealt with this problem before in my own quilt.... I guess I have been pretty lucky and had only flat quilt tops and boarders.


Thanks
Anna



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[Karen G.]

Was the quilt measured down the middle and the border pieces cut to that measurement before being pinned and sewn on?

Wavy borders can often be the result of the border pieces being larger than the rest of the quilt. For example, if border pieces were added to the edges without measuring, then additional fabric (even less than an inch) can make waves in the border.

[Karen G.]

I suspect that the t-shirts stretched as she sewed the border on. If the quilt was measured down the center and the borders were cut, this might not have happened, but if the borders were cut long and just sewn on and hacked off, it could have easily stretched. Or it could be because the borders aren't made from knits like the t-shirts.

Good luck! Nancy

[Beth A.]

I am a wee bit math-disabled. I cannot remember a number from one second to the next.

Until I saw this method demonstrated, borders gave me fits (always forgetting the number between the measurement and the cutting).

You lay your quilt down and smooth it down nice and flat.

Cut your 2 borders a couple inches longer than you will need -- on the lengthwise grain, if possible and lay then down together, right on top of one another.

Straighten one end of the borders.

Lay that straightened end down flush with one end of the quilt along the center of the quilt (aligning the border fabric along a center line of the quilt). Smooth the border fabric so it is laying nice and flat.

Take a small cutting mat and place it under the OTHER end of the border.

Use a ruler to whack of whatever part of the border lays beyond the end of the edge of the quilt.

VOILA! The border is exactly the same length as the center of the quilt, and you can be sure they are exactly the same length.

AND you don't have to measure with a ruler, tape measure, etc.

Not brilliant, but I haven't screwed up borders since I began using this method, which is saying a lot.

BethMI