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Border Tips & Techniques!
How Much Fabric Should I Buy for Borders?rders?
What Size Bed Will This Quilt Go On?
How Deep is the Mattress?
*Is this an older, 8" deep mattress?
*Is this a newer, 14-16" deep mattress?
How Far Do I Want the Quilt to Hang Down on the Sides?
*Most people want the quilt to at least hang down a little bit past the point where the mattress rests on the box springs.
*Some people like a quilt that hangs to the floor. Obviously, the size of quilt can vary dramatically!
NOTE: The quilting process can cause a quilt to "shrink" a bit, so discuss this with your long arm quilter to find out how much larger you might want to make your quilt to end up with the size you want.
Do I Want Mitered Corners on This Quilt?
* If I want mitered corners, do I need extra fabric for matching a design element?
* If I'm not doing mitered corners, my sides will likely be the shortest and will be sewn on first. My longest pieces will be the top and bottom in most cases.
How Wide is My Outer Border?
This will determine how many Length of Fabric (LOF) strips I can cut. I'll use 42" as an average width of fabric after removing selvages. (Always measure to be sure of the actual usable inches.) For example:
* I can get four 10 1/2" borders side by side (4 x 10 1/2" = 42").
* I can get four 8 1/2" borders side by side (4 x 8" = 32"). This leaves 10", and I can also get my binding from the same piece of fabric (4 x 2 1/2" =10").
* If I want a border greater than 10 1/2", then I'll need two lengths of fabric. Likely I won't use a 21" border, but let's say I want a 14" border. I can get three of these LOF (3 x 14" = 42") and from the second length of fabric I can get the 4th strip. I'll have 28" LOF left over, which can be used for binding, piecing, and other projects.
Do the Math
* What is the size of my bed top? - ____ x ____
* How far to hang down the sides and bottom - ____ + ____
* Amount the quilt could "shrink" on each side when quilted - ____ + ____
* How wide do my borders need to be to get the size quilt I want? _____
* Do I want the binding to be the same fabric as the outer border? Yes No
* Draw a diagram and put in the numbers
A Special Note About Binding
If you choose 8 1/2" LOF border strips, you'll have enough fabric for four binding strips up to 2 1/2" wide. VERY IMPORTANT: Cut your binding first! If you are a bit short on the rest of the fabric, you can always trim down your borders a bit.
If you want 10 1/2" borders and want to use the same fabric for your binding, you'll need to buy extra border fabric for binding. Here's a quick binding buying guide that will give you flexibility in choosing either WOF binding strips or a continuous bias binding:
* Full/Double - 7/8 yard
* Queen - 1 yard
* King - 1 1/4 yard
Bottom Line - Quick Guide:
* For a Full or Double Size quilt measuring 99" or less at the most, with borders 10 1/2" or less, 2 3/4 yards should be enough.
* For a large Queen that could be 100" or a bit more, with borders 10 1/2" or less, 3 yards is generally fine.
* For a King size quilt, determine the longest measurement. For example, if you plan on a quilt 110" square, 3 1/4 yds will be fine as long as the width of your border is not more than 10 1/2". If your border is wider than 10 1/2" you will need another length of fabric.
NOTE: Please check with your long arm quilter to see the largest size quilt they can load on their machine. Be sure to ask whether this is the measurement of the top, or the backing! You'll need to add an extra 6" on each side for the back, so make sure your quilt can be quilted!
I don't like pieced outer borders. Why ruin all that beautiful print with a seam? First, we need to determine the size of the quilt. What size exactly is a full/double, queen, or king size quilt? Here are the questions I ask myself:
What Size Bed Will This Quilt Go On?
How Deep is the Mattress?
*Is this an older, 8" deep mattress?
*Is this a newer, 14-16" deep mattress?
How Far Do I Want the Quilt to Hang Down on the Sides?
*Most people want the quilt to at least hang down a little bit past the point where the mattress rests on the box springs.
*Some people like a quilt that hangs to the floor. Obviously, the size of quilt can vary dramatically!
NOTE: The quilting process can cause a quilt to "shrink" a bit, so discuss this with your long arm quilter to find out how much larger you might want to make your quilt to end up with the size you want.
Do I Want Mitered Corners on This Quilt?
* If I want mitered corners, do I need extra fabric for matching a design element?
* If I'm not doing mitered corners, my sides will likely be the shortest and will be sewn on first. My longest pieces will be the top and bottom in most cases.
How Wide is My Outer Border?
This will determine how many Length of Fabric (LOF) strips I can cut. I'll use 42" as an average width of fabric after removing selvages. (Always measure to be sure of the actual usable inches.) For example:
* I can get four 10 1/2" borders side by side (4 x 10 1/2" = 42").
* I can get four 8 1/2" borders side by side (4 x 8" = 32"). This leaves 10", and I can also get my binding from the same piece of fabric (4 x 2 1/2" =10").
* If I want a border greater than 10 1/2", then I'll need two lengths of fabric. Likely I won't use a 21" border, but let's say I want a 14" border. I can get three of these LOF (3 x 14" = 42") and from the second length of fabric I can get the 4th strip. I'll have 28" LOF left over, which can be used for binding, piecing, and other projects.
Do the Math
* What is the size of my bed top? - ____ x ____
* How far to hang down the sides and bottom - ____ + ____
* Amount the quilt could "shrink" on each side when quilted - ____ + ____
* How wide do my borders need to be to get the size quilt I want? _____
* Do I want the binding to be the same fabric as the outer border? Yes No
* Draw a diagram and put in the numbers
A Special Note About Binding
If you choose 8 1/2" LOF border strips, you'll have enough fabric for four binding strips up to 2 1/2" wide. VERY IMPORTANT: Cut your binding first! If you are a bit short on the rest of the fabric, you can always trim down your borders a bit.
If you want 10 1/2" borders and want to use the same fabric for your binding, you'll need to buy extra border fabric for binding. Here's a quick binding buying guide that will give you flexibility in choosing either WOF binding strips or a continuous bias binding:
* Full/Double - 7/8 yard
* Queen - 1 yard
* King - 1 1/4 yard
Bottom Line - Quick Guide:
* For a Full or Double Size quilt measuring 99" or less at the most, with borders 10 1/2" or less, 2 3/4 yards should be enough.
* For a large Queen that could be 100" or a bit more, with borders 10 1/2" or less, 3 yards is generally fine.
* For a King size quilt, determine the longest measurement. For example, if you plan on a quilt 110" square, 3 1/4 yds will be fine as long as the width of your border is not more than 10 1/2". If your border is wider than 10 1/2" you will need another length of fabric.
NOTE: Please check with your long arm quilter to see the largest size quilt they can load on their machine. Be sure to ask whether this is the measurement of the top, or the backing! You'll need to add an extra 6" on each side for the back, so make sure your quilt can be quilted!