How to Add Borders to a Quilt

Adding borders to a quilt can help to grow the quilt size, frame the quilt top, and totally transform your quilt's overall look.  However, when adding borders, some issues may come into play. Have you ever added a border to a quilt that looked ruffly, like cooked bacon?  How about a border so tight that your quilt resembles a dome tent?  A common newbie mistake is to take a long strip of fabric and sew it to the edge of the quilt then whack it off when you reach the end.  The result can be a border that has way more or way less fullness than the actual quilt top, making a not-so-nice-looking border, a quilt that does not lie flat and may be difficult to quilt properly.  

I've been longarm quilting since 2005, and have seen my share of quilts with borders that "flutter"!   And yes, your quilter can sometimes "quilt it out"... 

Here is a sample of a quilt mounted to my longarm machine.  You can see that the border is actually longer than the quilt top, and will need to be taken in somehow.   In this case, by quite a bit.  Here are some of my tips:

1)  Basting the edges down is the first step, as the fabric can be manipulated and eased into each stitch.  Take it slow and use lots of pins to distribute the bulk evenly.

BEFORE:  Pin to tame the edges.

2) Use batting with a little loft to it - not a flat cotton batting - so that any fullness will have a place to go.  80/20 cotton/poly batting has a 3/8" loft and can still give that cottony crinkle when washed.  If I really need help, I use a polyester or wool batting with about 1/2" loft.

3) Select a quilting design that goes back and forth, easily allowing extra fullness to get pulled in from both sides and stitched down to help the quilt appear to lie flat.  This can apply to not only borders, but within the quilt itself.

AFTER:  Machine Quilted
Quilting motif:  Squared by Leisha Farnsworth

On the occasion when there is simply too much bulk in a border to "quilt out", here are two solutions:
1)  Take a tuck.  Make a fold in the fabric and quilt over it.  It will look like a seam joining two strips together.  You can go in and hand-stitch that seam if you want.

2)  Remove the border completely, trim off the excess border length, then re-sew the border to the quilt. 

The best solution to avoid fluttering borders altogether is to take the time to measure the quilt top, then cut the borders to that measurement before sewing them on.  

HOW TO ADD a BORDER
This is one of the Quilting Basics/Best Practices for adding borders that every quilter should learn:  

1)  Measure the length of the quilt - not at the very edge because that can stretch - but within the quilt.  Measure in three places and take the average of those three measurements, as there can be slight differences (no quilt is ever perfect...).  This process can even tame a somewhat wonky quilt to help square it up.  

2)  Cut both side borders to the same measurement.  When I apply a border, I pin at each end, then fold the quilt and the border in half to find the centers, and pin at the center.  Then I can pin the rest of the border to the edges, easing it in if necessary.  Stitch the side borders to the quilt, then press the seams toward the borders.  TIP:  If one layer has a little more fullness, put that side down so the feed dogs can help ease in the fabric as you sew.  

3) For the top and bottom borders, repeat the previous steps.  This time, measure through the width of the quilt, including the added borders.  Cut the new border strips to that measurement, and then pin and sew the borders to the quilt as before.  Press seams toward the borders.

This process of measuring then sewing on the borders can help the quilt lay flat and look lovely.  And your longarm quilter will love you. ♥

Once you've mastered this practice, the same principle can apply to even more complex borders!  Stay tuned to see how I make mitered corners on borders to get a pretty-close-to-perfect result every time!

Until then,
Happy Quilting!

~Deonn