Friday, January 18, 2013

Mitering a border??

Hi. 

I am working on this Tossed 9 Patch, using Eleanor Burn's Perenials fabric.  I bought the stripe to match the prints in the charm packs, and thought I had enough for a mitered border, one that would make the stripes line up around the quilt, like a frame. 

But I miscalculated.  I wanted to make the borders as wide as possible to use the most of the fabric, and to make the quilt as large as possible.  I'm aiming for twin size.  But I didn't add enough to make the corners come to a point.  You need quite a few extra inches to compensate for 11" borders! 

Notes!  I don't have any more of the stripe wide enough to just piece.  Even the left overs on the sides won't add in enough, should I choose to piece it.  There are also no more charm squares left, although I could purchase one more pack, but we didn't think that would help, since I need what ever pieced block to measure 11 by 16 or so.   I didn't really want to spend more money on this, either. 

Here are some pictures.  I'm about 8" short on each corner, on the top and bottom pieces.  I need the border fabric to spread out, to make it fit.  The only solution I came up with is to put a strippy block that measures 11 1/2 (border width) by 16-17" using the remaining pieces of the border (which are very long, about 2 1/2 yards, since the stripe was along the length) and some of the coordinating 1st border.  What do you think?  Does this look okay?  Any suggestions for different ways to make the border longer? 

 
 
View from the side to the top.
 
 
This was one suggestion, just alternating the pink/stripe fabric.
 
 
Another suggestion was alternating the pink/strip fabric, putting a green stripe in the middle, and doing the others out again.  It does need to be wider than this is showing, and I do want to keep the pink fabrics on the outside, so the stripes are not competing with the border.  The green is just a test strip.  I have to check my stash for other possible greens that would match the charm squares in the quilt a little better. 
 
Please let me know your opinion.  Thanks!
 
 

4 comments:

thebutterflyquilter said...

My suggestion is to add the extra pieces in the middle of each border. Make sure you add enough in the center of each border strip so all four sides look the same. Then make sure when you add the center you will have enough for the miter on the corners. I like the look of the extra block in the center of the borders. Instead of just strips (for the extra block) maybe add pieced blocks to make it look like the center design? Good luck!

Nancy said...

I would do one of two things. First option, make some pretty set squares for each corner even if you have to cut one border down to make squares.
Option two would be to remove the outer border and add an interesting filler design to the middle of each side to make the border long enough to miter the corners.

SewCalGal said...

Darn, I hate when that happens. Have wanted to mitre corners and not bought enough too!

Your floral print is perfect for a mitred border too. You may have stated this, but to clarify, I'd play with:
- split the floral border to get a width that works for mitred, even if you have to piece the length (just not as wide as you want).
- add a strip of fabric next to the pink, followed by the thinner floral strip, followed by another strip...now as to what color?
- that green is pretty, but takes away from the floral print. Do you have any creams in your stash or more subdued colors? The focus of your quilt is pretty subdued with a few dominate colors, so going very dominate in the border may draw the eye to focus on the border. Thus, I lean to not using the deep green, but audition more creams.

But, what ever you do this is going to be a sweet quilt.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Pamela said...

If you were to cut the 90 degree angle for the miter on the side borders before adding the ends, could you use the remainder to piece in for the ends that are short? I think I would prefer pieced corner blocks to adding in the middle of the borders. I've shorted myself on borders, too - always forget to add that extra for the corners!