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............

8 comments:

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

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.

Gina said...

Stick with it. Just remember once the border is on your top will be finished.

Love and hugs Gina xxx

The Calico Cat said...

Remember, there are many a good quilt out there without borders...
(You may need to make more blocks, but...)

Elaine Adair said...

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???

Paula, the quilter said...

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.

swooze said...

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.

The Calico Quilter said...

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!

KimP said...

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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