Borders can add just the right touch to finish off a quilt top. Whether you make a single border or many, there are some basic techniques that will make this process work. Problems with borders include stretching, easing, waviness, and just plain not fitting.

Sometimes a quilt top with its borders will look just fine when you lay it on the table, but some things can show up on the quilting frame that you may not have noticed. A few simple steps are all that are needed to guarantee great border construction.

Borders can complete a beautiful effort and design just as easily as they can ruin one. Take as much care in the cutting and sewing of the borders as you have for the rest of your project.

Lay the quilt top on a flat surface. Measure your top with a tape from side to side in three places: Top, center, and bottom. Record these numbers and average them to get one number. Use this number to cut two border strips for the top and bottom borders.

When the center of the quilt is completed, press from the back, making all the seam allowances lie in the best direction. Press again from the right side—take your time and smooth out all the seam lines and pieces that might have gotten crumpled. This will give you a true and smooth top.

After cutting, pin them in place starting from the ends. Pin the center next—center of quilt to center of border strip. Continue pinning, adjusting any excess fullness until it is all evenly distributed. Now, sew in place. Press.

Repeat this measuring, averaging, cutting, pinning for the side border strips. Be sure to include the top and bottom borders. This will keep your borders sized accurately for your top. A little extra time is certainly worth the result.

Quilting on a frame puts tension on the edges of a quilt. It is held taut between the rollers on the frame. All seams that extend to the outer edges of a quilt should be reinforced (backstitched). This will keep them from popping apart.

Any problem that occurs with the first border that is added to a quilt will be magically and trgically increased by the number of borders that are added.

Fix the mistakes before they happen.