"One quilting superstition advised that a broken border on a marriage quilt was a certain omen of trouble – there could be
no broken ends or twisted lines of stitching."
Linda Seward, 'The Complete Book of Patchwork, Quilting and Appliqué'.
Borders and sashing act as frames around individual patchwork blocks and the entire quilt top. In their book, 'The Art of
Classic Quiltmaking' Harriet Hargrave and Sharyn Craig suggest the following points to consider when creating your
border: -
Do not buy the fabric for border or sashing until you are sure which fabric to use. This can be difficult at the
beginning of a project. To make the choice easier, why not make up your blocks first and then compare with several
fabrics to select the right frame for your quilt.
Remember the colour of the border or sashing will affect the overall colour scheme of the quilt. Does the border brighten
or darken the colours it encompasses? Does the border highlight or bring out the colours in the quilt?
Pulling out the colours in your quilt
Harriet and Sharyn suggest that the use of a large-scale print for the border, which contains the colours of the quilt
top, can pull all the colours of the quilt together to produce a dramatic effect. Also the use of striped fabric in a
mitred border can provide your quilt with a stunning and decorative frame.
Depending on how you want to quilt the border can determine how patterned you wish the border fabric to be. Remember it is
much more difficult to see a quilting design which has been sewn on a busy printed fabric.
Measuring for the border
To measure the quilt top for fitting the border, it is preferable to measure across the quilts centre. The reason for this
is that the edges of the quilt top may have stretched during construction.
Several designs of border can be used such as the squared, the mitred, the pieced and of course the appliquéd border. The
border is another opportunity for you to experiment to find the right frame for your quilt.