Ah, borders. They make or break a quilt, so to speak. The way you put borders on your quilt can help make your quilt more “square”, or even-sided. The following is my favorite method of applying straight borders on your quilt.

1. Measure the width of your pieced top through the center of the quilt then cut your border pieces to this length. Borders longer than the width of your fabric will need to be seamed with a 1/4″ seam, then cut to the appropriate length.

2. Mark the center and the 1/4  and 3/4 points of the pieced top with pins. Then mark the same 3 points of the border strip with pins.

3. Sew the border strip to the top matching pins, and then sew the border strip to the bottom also matching pins. Press the seams toward the borders.

4. Measure the length of the pieced top through the center and cut your border pieces to this length. Borders longer than the width of your fabric will need to be seamed with a 1/4″ seam, then cut to the appropriate length.

5. Mark the pieced top with top and bottom borders with pins, as above, and sew the borders to each side of the pieced top matching the pins. Press the seams toward the borders.

Some patterns specify sewing the side borders on first, and that is usually just because it can occasionally be done with fewer strips. It is important to measure through the middle of the quilt rather than just sew the borders on and trim. If you sew and trim your quilt will grow with each border you add, and this makes borders that are “wavy”. This is difficult to quilt either by hand or on a long-arm machine, and will result in a “gathered” look to the border.