There are several aspects of quilt making that must be done in order for a quilt to be flat and not have wavy edges. In this post, I talked about how I cut my border strips. The border strips must be cut straight and the borders must be the exact length as the fabric edge to which they’re being attached. If you simply place a long, not measured strip of fabric onto your quilt and sew, then whack off the extra, and you’re getting good results, you’re very lucky. That method doesn’t work for most of us. There’s also more information on measuring and sewing borders in my newest book, 60 Pieced Borders.
Once your blocks are sewn together but before adding your borders, check your corners.
I find it easier to line the edge up with an inside line on the ruler (and not the outside edge). If the edge needs to be trimmed, I then move the edge lines of the ruler to the edge lines of the top.
If you’ve been careful to measure and square up your blocks before sewing them into rows, there should not be any trimming that needs to be done at this point. If there is, you may be trimming off points that matter (stars) so please be careful about cutting, sewing a quarter inch seam and pressing so that minimal trimming would be needed.
When adding non-pieced borders, I add the sides first, then the top and bottom strips. Once these are pressed, I again check the corners and square them up if necessary.
By following these steps, when your top is done, it should be straight so that you don’t end up with one side that is 88″ and the opposite side being 87″ or 89″ (or worse)!
Gretchen F says
Hi, Judy!
I am currently listening to you on Pat Sloan’s podcast. In case no one else told you, SeamedUp (http://seamedup.com) is sort of a ravelry for quilters. It is still new and in development stages, but come check it out. There is even a forum where you can request certain features if they aren’t already there.
Lynne says
Wow Judy, what a great recommendation, I ordered the principles of knitting based on your comments. It arrived today, I had no idea it would be such a large book. I can’t wait to dive into it. Hope your retreat is going well , I was already booked onto one for next week or I would have been there
Linda says
Wish I was hanging out with all of you at the retreat. Hope you’re having a great time!
barbara says
you mention squaring the corners if necessary. what technique do you use?
i spray with water and lay it on the floor, over a carpet for some air circulation. i pin to to the carpet to keep as square as possible.
also, i’ve read that you should measure across the center in both directions as well as on the edges and use the average as the measurement for the binding. no? just the edges?
barbara says
you mention squaring the corners if necessary. what technique do you use?
i spray with water and lay it on the floor, over a carpet for some air circulation. i pin to to the carpet to keep as square as possible.
also, i’ve read that you should measure across the center in both directions as well as on the edges and use the average as the measurement for the binding. no? just the edges? i’ve just started measuring across the center to see if i get squarer, even though i’m only 1/2 to 1″ off.
barbara says
sorry about the duplicate post.