Installing your borders the wrong way can cause havoc. Let me help you avoid these problems.

How to Measure and Install Quilt Borders Correctly

I will start by saying that although I have been quilting for 21 years, it was many years before I learned that what I was doing was wrong. I used to line up my border fabric along an edge of my quilt top and sew it on. After I finished sewing that side, I would press the seam, take my rotary cutter and lop off the fabric that hung over. This is the WRONG Way to install borders on your quilt top!

If you do what I described above, you will end up with extra fabric in your borders which can and will become wavy. Wavy borders are the disdain of long arm quilters and have to be handled with extra care. This extra care could result in an extra charge to you, or you could take the time to remove the borders and reapply them yourself.

My friend, Andrea Rennick, from https://thequiltingshed.com/ was kind enough to share this photo. This beautiful quilt unfortunately has two wavy borders that will never lay flat.

The Right Way

The RIGHT way to install borders on your quilt top is to measure each side of your quilt top first, cut the border strips to those measurements and install the borders. This way, there is no extra fabric in the borders and they will lay flat.

This is a really simple thing you can do to make your quilts better. You may be thinking that I’m not sending my quilt to a long arm quilter, so why do I care? You should care because your quilt will be square and lay flat, and you won’t have to deal with your wavy borders as you quilt the top on your home machine.

Before you go, I have a quick, one page guide called The Top 5 Tools Every Beginner Quilter Needs. I know when you first get started quilting you can become overwhelmed because there are so many tools and notions available.

Click here to get my free guide and let me help you not end up with a drawer full of tools you will only use once or even worse, never.

I hope you have found this helpful. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email me here.

For more helpful quilting tips and tricks, make sure you follow me on YouTube and Pinterest.

See you soon.