mitred borders?

[Jennifer P.]

Does anyone know the design questions to determine if you need to mitre the borders on your quilt? I have a white, black and golden/beige quilt top with slightly metallic golden beige "reads as solid" border. It surrounds square in a square blocks. Does it really matter in a solid"y" border if you mitre the corners or not?Does it make any difference if the quilt will be judged?

Thanks for your help

Jennifer

[Jennifer P.]

Go to the Sharon Schamber website and make your way to the Free area--she has an excellent video there that shows how to miter a border. She also has a wonderful way to do binding.

http://www.sharonschambernetwork.com...rea/index.html

Pat in Rockport, TX, who thinks she's a very good teacher.

[Jennifer P.]

Hi Jennifer,
I don't know if it makes a difference in judging. If you have smaller borders with miters, then I would mitre to keep continuity. If the fabric reads solid, the any seams should disappear in the quilting. I think the mitre would be for a printed fabric that has direction and you would want the lines to flow around the corner. As for making a mitre, definately check out Sharons site. Hope this makes sence. Cheryl

[Teri L.]

One thing I've noticed recently is that mitered borders really make a huge visual difference. Miters fade into the background in a way that straight borders don't. Since the border reads solid here's what I'd try - pin the quilt to your design wall or place it on the floor and lay the borders out straight and look through your camera (or stand way back or look through a reducing lens or something to give you some visual difference) to see how the borders read. Then miter the borders, look through the camera. See what's different and think about what the is quilt calling for.

If you're thinking of entering the quilt into a show, then miter the borders. It doesn't take that much longer or that much extra fabric to accomplish this detail.

If this quilt is for personal use only, then give consideration to how much detail you want to put into the quilt. If mitering the borders makes you happy overall, then do the miter.

Happy quilting!
teri

[Jennifer P.]

Thanks so much for the replies. I think I'll miter it just because I'm hoping it will show better. I love this quilt no matter what (and it will be good practice too.) It is my first quilt to be judged, more for feedback from a professional than an expectation of any award.

After the show it will be given to my daughter and I know she will love it no matter what.

Thanks for the great idea of looking at it through the camera lens. I'll post a photo in my profile when its done.