Welcome to your first block free week! 16 Blocks! Are you enjoying laying them all out and admiring how beautiful they all are? We know it might take a little longer to get all three blocks done and that is totally ok, work at your own pace.
How is your sashing coming along? Do you need any help deciding what to use for sashing? Feel free to post on the thread or send us a message – we are happy to help you spend your money decide on what to use.
This week our giveaway was this sweet little Dresden Pincushion. The winner was Kate Barbosa! Congratulations!
This week we are going to talk about borders for your quilt. Borders help with a lot of things
- Frame your quilt and reduce and possibility of stretching in the quilting process
- allows you to add extra size to your quilt if needed/wanted
- compliments the colours in the quilt and helps tie the colours in the quilt together
Since everyones blocks are probably going to be a slightly different in size and I know I have talked to several people who are adding extra blocks the easiest way to do the borders is as follows:
Step 1: Fold your quilt in half and measure the middle of the quilt – I get 23″ so my first border will be 46″ – cut 2 strips of fabric at 46″ x the width you are doing your border. We are choosing to continue with the 2.5″ that we used for the sashing of the quilt so 2 strips at 46″ x 2.5″. You will want to pin the borders on before sewing – I recommend pinning in the middle, the ends, and then in between those two (quarter mark or so). Sew those to the sides of your quilt and press. If your quilt is wider than the width of the fabric you just sew two strips together – press the seams open and then continue as normal.
Now you will need to fold your quilt in half the other way and measure down the middle – make sure you are measuring including the two borders you just added. For my quilt I get 24.5″ so I will need 2 strips at 49″ x 2.5″. Sew those to the side of your quilt and press and voila! you are done putting your border on your quilt.
Next week we are going to talk about batting, and the longarm quilting process. We will be going Live at Mad About Patchwork with Sharyn to talk the ins and outs of the Longarm process.
Looking forward to seeing all your quilts laid out this week!
Much love,
C