Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Why do I???????
Hate borders so very much!?? I mean, they stop me dead in my tracks. I like the beginning and the end of the quilt. The middle, that is, the borders and back, I hate. I think it's because they are long slippery pieces that require measuring. Urgh!!! Got one border on the quilt I'm working on.....one more to go............
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8 comments:
When I look at my unfinished quilts, most of them are stuck at the border stage - I think for me it is mainly indecision about what to do. I know I can throw on a plain border, but I usually feel like I should be doing more - like applique.
When doing straight borders, I don't really measure. I lay out the quilt on the floor. Then I lay the border strips on top of the center of the quilt. I put the cutting mat on the floor, and make sure everything is lined up perpendicular, and cut both strips there. I think if I did the actual measuring, I would wind up messing up somehow.
Stick with it. Just remember once the border is on your top will be finished.
Love and hugs Gina xxx
Remember, there are many a good quilt out there without borders...
(You may need to make more blocks, but...)
I agree! I think it's because no matter how many times I measure a border or the side or middle etc., of a quilt, I ALWAYS get a different number. If the quilt is not too large, I lay the quilt on my tall cutting table, and just LAY the border down the middle and put a pin at the cutting spot, then I LAY that border piece on the side of the quilt. If it's the same, I CUT! NO measuring - that takes care of a lot of MY frustration! This doesn't work for those huge quilts that have to be on the floor - another physical torture, the awful up and down process.
Soooo, what exactly is your gripe with borders? Inspiration? the measuring? making them fit???
I always seemed to run out of fabric for the borders. So I started planning the borders at the very beginning stages of the quilt. I have found that by doing this I can use the slab-a-border technique if I want to by cutting the borders out first from the fabric. But I have recently fallen in love with using blocks for borders which takes more planning. It's a vicious cycle.
I honestly think it is because I don't have a big area to lay everything out to easily cut and measure. Now that I am trying to be more accurate in how I measure and add borders it has become a spot where I lag on progress.
Borders strike fear in my heart because I have twice (twice!) measured wrong and ended up picking out a lot of stitching. (Both times the border was too long, and fabric being as forgiving/stretchy as it is, this didn't become apparent until it was stitched on; when held up, the border was wavy as a flag!) Man, you'd think a person with a technical background would do better!
I'm right there with you. Borders seem to be a mental stop for me with quilts; I can get the blocks together in rows but the borders just seem so hard. Probably because if you do it right, it's no big deal - just looks like a border. But if you do something wrong, well, then it looks awful. Not a lot of payoff, but plenty of downside. (Which is the same way I feel about bindings.)
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