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Welcome to part two of The Start to Finish Baby Quilt. Weíre going to talk about borders
now. When you do your borders the first thing you want to do is measure both your edges
and on a small quilt like this there wonít be much variance, but when you get into the
big quilts sometimes there can be a lot.
So, this quilt on the edge measures 28î. Then youíve measured this side so then we
have to measure the other side. See, if itís about the same, and it should be 28î. Then
we fold it in half and we measure it on the fold, and
what weíre going to do is if these were grossly different then we would take an average of
the three, but probably weíre going to end up with 28î borders.
OK, so weíve got 28î borders! So now what weíre going to do is, I like to, when I do
a little quilt like this thatís lots of colors, I like to frame it in. So, weíre going to
actually put two borders on this and weíre going to start with a white border and itís
going to be 2 Ωî and Iíll show you how we cut that.
OK, so because weíre using our border strips our framing strips are
going to be 2 Ωî if you have a lot of borders to do these Jelly Rolls with the solids are
awesome! We love them, but for our little baby quilt weíre going to use yardage. Weíre
going to cut them 2 Ωî, and you see I have it laid here along the line, and weíre going
to get our cutter here, and we are going to cut this 2 Ωî. Now we know that the width
of the fabric, which youíll see on a pattern, width of fabric youíll see as WOF. That means
width of fabric, and the width of our fabric is 45î and for a straight square border you
can go ahead and cut it straight across this way. Itíll save you a lot of fabric, and
on a straight edge you really donít have to use a bias border. So what weíre going
to do then is weíre going to cut these 28î.
So that we have four borders that are the same size, but weíre only going to cut two
sides right now because we have to, when we add them to the sides our top measurements
going to be a little longer. So, weíre going to cut off our salvage first. Right on the
edge, and then weíre going to come up here, and weíre going to cut 28î because that
was the measurement of our quilt. Weíll cut one more strip for the other side.
Now remember this might look a little odd to you because Iím cutting left-handed. Most
of you will want to do it the other way, except for those few lucky ones who are left-handed
like me.
So, now we have our border and weíre going to lay it right sides together on the top,
and when you attach your borders to your quilt, you always want to put your border piece on
the top, and the reason for that is when the feed dogs move fabric through, and these are
your feed dogs here under your feet, they will move through just a fraction faster than
the top, and if you put the borders on the bottom when youíre doing it youíll end up
with the lumpy, roly borders.
So you want to put your fabric on the top and weíre going to stitch it to each side.
At ºî weíll stitch it down. We just let that easily go through the machine. You donít
pull it you donít tug it you just let it slide through, guiding it with our hand, making
sure that we stay at the ºî line.
OK, now what you want to do is youíre going to lay your seam on top, set those stitches,
and then press it back like this. Now youíre going to re-measure for your side borders.
Thatís what weíve got so far! OK, so this end measurement is now 31 Ωî. Now you donít
really want to trust my measurements, make sure you measure your own, because yours will
probably be different than mine. Not everybodyís ºî foot is the same.
So, letís cut two more strips and weíre going to cut them, I think I said 31 Ωî.
Weíll measure that again to make sure. Thereís a saying that says, ìmeasure twice, cut onceî,
and thatís a really good system to follow.
OK, so our framing border is done, and now weíre going to add another
border and itís always fun to find something that coordinates with your fabric, well itís
kind of essential actually. Weíve decided to use this little dot. Even though itís
not in the Charm Pack, we think it will add to the color of it. You want to lay out your
fabric and make sure itís going to go with, and I just think thatís going to be a darling
little border on there.
So weíll probably cut these about 4î. The size of these borders doesnít really matter,
you can choose what ever you want, thatís really your choice. Iíve seen little tiny
ones, theyíre darling really no matter how you do them. I tend to go smaller to larger,
and I also tend to go lighter to darker, but thatís just a personal preference. Again,
thereís no quilt police.
So weíll cut these borders and weíll put them on the exact same way. Measuring and
putting them on, and I will show you when itís all finished. As long as your quilt
is smaller than the width of your fabric, which is 45î, you can do it in single, one
cut strips, but if your quilt is larger than that youíll want to cut your borders at a
bias. You can actually straight cut them this way, and sew and fold, I mean iron back, and
that will work. There are some people that like to do it at the bias, and what you do
then is you lay them like this, and youíre going to sew from this corner, to this corner.
What thatíll do is it will give you a continuous bias strip. Cause sometimes you may need more
than one, and then youíll just trim that back off, and your strip will be like that.
So thatís how you do it for longer strips, and combining your strips together, but for
us we just need these little pieces.
So, weíll put them on. So hereís our finished top. Isnít it adorable? Now join us for step
three, which is what to do with your quilt, now that itís allput together. See you soon.