BORDER THOUGHTS Posted on 25 Sep 00:00 , 0 comments

0925: frame ... like ... borders on a quilt. Border decisions are always some of the hardest to make. Borders can serve a lot of different functions:

  • like ... framing the body or center patchwork area of the quilt
  • like ... making the quilt big enough to fit the bed where the quilt will be "living"
  • like ... adding details interest to the quilt (blocks spilling over into the border area)
  • like ... providing a way for using up all the left-over scraps from a quilt (a scrappy piano key border)
  • like ... marking one of the final steps in the quilt project journey; being the last step before sandwiching all the quilt layers together
  • like ... seeming to be one of the easiest construction steps and yet one of the most potentially frustrating (no wavey borders allowed)

Some of my most favorite border quilting designs are:

 
1082 LEAF CURL BORDER 1273 FEATHER BORDER 1235 CLAM 2 FEATHER KEY BORDER

Some things to think about when choosing quilting designs to add to your pattern library might be:

  1. Border patterns should be easy to set up and so balanced in design elements that there will be little distortion of the pattern when placed in the side borders as compared to the top/bottom borders.
  2. Universal in design so the pattern will work with several different patchwork styles.
  3. The design comes with an easily connected corner unit or wraps around the quilt with little disruption in the overall continuity of the design.
  4. Balance is the key to everything ... is the border pattern you're considering a good match in regard to the quilting density in the body of the quilt.
  5. an extra bonus could be ... the pattern is design in such a way as to provide the appearance of a good continuous line along the inside FRAMING border.

... may all your borders be square, be straight, and be flat ...