Quilt Borders

5 Tips For Attractive Borders For Your Quillts

By Holly Hanover

Border Design

You’ve put a lot of time and effort into making your beautiful quilt, and you’re almost done. Just like the proverbial icing on the cake, one of the finishing touches remaining is to add attractive borders. If this is one of your first few quilts, you may be unsure of how to proceed. Here are a few tips to ensure that your quilt has attractive borders and your work is a success.

1. Border design: Simple doesn’t have to mean boring, just as complicated doesn’t necessarily mean attractive, so start by picking a simple border design. This can be done by adding one strip to each side of your quilt, or double your pleasure by adding two. Once you have this under your belt, you can try more complex or detailed and attractive quilt borders such as squares, rectangles, triangles, or nine-patch.
2. Color me happy: You can make your quilt border fun and interesting based on the colors that you choose for each strip. Solid strips serve as a pleasing contrast to a patterned base, or you can choose one or more strip colors that appear in the base.
3. Border type: While there are many types of borders, butted borders (borders that are sewn straight) are quick and easy, and therefore great for beginners. For those who already have completed butted corners, you can try adding corner squares in your butted borders.
4. Measure twice, cut once: One thing can create an unattractive borders are those that were not measured properly. Always round to the nearest inch and add ¼ inch allowance to all seams. Use the center of your quilt for measuring borders as it tends to have the least fluctuation in length or width. and don’t forget to double check your measurements before cutting – after all, a stitch in time saves nine!
5. Practice: If you are unsure whether you have the hang of adding quilt borders, why not practice first? Do a trial run not only of measuring a border but also adding it to a small piece of fabric. By learning where your problems areas are and learning how to fix them before working on your quilt, you can guarantee that your quilt will look stunning without the stress of redoing mistakes.

With these few tips in place, you can start to measure and sew your own attractive quilt borders for your quilt. Have fun!

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