Quilt Borders

[Acorn]

I have pieced the main top for the quilt for my goddaughter and am currently doing the borders.  There is a border of the background fabric, then a narrow pieced border using the fabrics from the blocks, then a final border of the background fabric.  I've laid them out in the photo to give some idea.

I did the first two borders yesterday - the first plain one was 2.5 inches (I intended it to be 2in, not sure what happened there!)  The pieced border is intended to be 1inch (maybe less).  Placing the final border alongside it the proportions looked completely wrong, whatever width I made the outer border. 

This morning I have dismantled the borders and would really appreciate some advice about the balance.  I'm on the verge of putting the quilt away for the moment, but I really don't want to.  The picture shows the inner border at 2inches (for real this time) and the pieced one at 1inch.  I think this is probably OK - do you?  And how wide should the outer border be?

The HST squares are 4inches, and the quilt is going to be 48 to 50 inches square overall.

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[b15erk]

Acorn, I'm no quilter, and I can offer no sensible advice.

I just want to say that your quilt looks lovely.  I did make one of these ziggy zaggy baby quilts a few years ago, and I loved it - hated giving it away! 

Jessie

[Ploshkin]

What fabric are you going to use for binding?  That could make a difference to the look. 
I think the outer border possibly needs to be double the width of the inner border.  I'm not sure I'm the one to suggest anything - the 2 quilts I have that I made have only one narrow border (one 1"  the other 1/4")  then the binding.  I didn't realise I was a minimalist borderer.

[Manuela]

@Acorn I’m not a quilter either, but here are my 50 cents:
I think the backing fabric is too ‘heavy’ as a border, I’d do just a pieced border using the light coloured fabrics and a dark coloured binding.

[Acorn]

The outer border will be the binding.

[maliw]

To me the inner border may look better the same width as the middle border so that the dark blue isn't overpowering. Nice quilt

[Iminei]

I agree with Mali about the dark blue being overpowering BUT I understand why you are using it.

I would make the pieced border the same width as the zigs (or is it the zags)

So ... 2" Dark Blue strip, 3"  pieced border, (whatever the width of the zigs are) + allow extra for the binding coming round from the back * ... then the dark blue binding ...

If you want the binding to be more of a feature ....... make it wider;

Machine stitch to the back and sew the larger portion to the front .
I would suggest no more than a 4" wide binding which would yield you a 2" when pressed strip, attached using a 1/4" seam to the back turned to the front should give you a 1 1/2" binding/border.

* If you're short on fabrics for the pieced border, you needn't make it the full width of the quilt.
If you know the extra wide binding will come round 1 1/2" to the front (say) cut the backing and wadding, after quilting, 1" wider than the finished quilt top ...
The binding will cover the plain wadding and sew 1/2" onto the pieced border .. if you see what I mean ???

Clear as Mud?

[Acorn]

I do think that would be good aesthetically, but I don't have enough fabric to make the pieced border that wide. 

I'm not sure I want the border to be much of a feature - I wasn't going to give it anything other than a blue border initially, but when I finished the main part it felt a bit bare like that.

[Acorn]

* If you're short on fabrics for the pieced border, you needn't make it the full width of the quilt.
If you know the extra wide binding will come round 1 1/2" to the front (say) cut the backing and wadding, after quilting, 1" wider than the finished quilt top ...
The binding will cover the plain wadding and sew 1/2" onto the pieced border .. if you see what I mean ???

Clear as Mud?

Ummm... I think I see what you mean, but I suspect the fact that most of my patterned fabric is now in pieces 4.5inches by 2-ish-inches would scupper it anyway... and not enough of them to turn them round and use them the other way.   

[Acorn]

Hmmm.  I'm thinking 1inch-1inch-2inches, from inside to edge.

Coincidentally this would mean that I wouldn't have to have a join in the middle of the outer borders.... (just realised that, having put aside a longer piece of fabric for this very purpose, I then used it for the inner border...  ).

Sorry for the poor picture, but the table is in use so I had to use the ironing board - and this is just a mock-up, so ignore the wobbliness of the apparent joins.

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[Lilian]

Hmmm.  I'm thinking 1inch-1inch-2inches, from inside to edge.

Coincidentally this would mean that I wouldn't have to have a join in the middle of the outer borders.... (just realised that, having put aside a longer piece of fabric for this very purpose, I then used it for the inner border...  ).

Sorry for the poor picture, but the table is in use so I had to use the ironing board - and this is just a mock-up, so ignore the wobbliness of the apparent joins.

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I think that will look nice 

[Deafoldbat]

In theory, the border measurements should be in proprtion to the blocks. EG if you have a 9 inch block, a border should measure 3-4½ inches wide. This is not a hard and fast rule, but it helps.

From what I can see, in the first picture the dark blue outer border is too wide, and in the second picture it is too narrow. Try laying it out so that the inner blue border width, plus the pieced border width, plus the outer blue border width adds up to the width of the zigzag. That might be about right.

If a border is too skimpy, it looks as if you shouldn't have bothered; if it's too wide, it swamps the centre. In the end, though, it will be the size you like best, and that will be the right size.

[Acorn]

Do you mean the width of the coloured part of the zigzag, or the height from top to bottom of a whole zigzag?  The latter would add 8 inches each side, which would be way over the top (so I expect it isn't what you meant!)

The zigzag is 3inches wide, so would give this:

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Which I think does look more balanced.


I've been trying to balance it by using multiples of the block size - 4 inches square - but of course it is the zigzag width that is the most visually apparent dimension.

Thanks @Deafoldbat and @Iminei!

[wrenkins]

I found some pics of a panel quilt done by @beepbeepsew and it has a lovely arrangement of borders. They give a good visual of proportions. There're more on her Instagram.

[Ploshkin]

If you're not fussed on a border go for a flanged binding or just a 1/4" strip between the blocks and binding.