Easy Quilt ( Part 4) Borders

 So far so good. You're almost finished making the quilt top....home stretch....
  I've decided to do three borders for my double quilt. The first border(left) is made out of a textured remnant I found at the Sally Ann.  The blue stripe border ( middle) is from a lovely Beatrix Potter Fabric I picked up a long time ago and have been using painstakingly over time. The last border ( right) is a plain cream  I also picked up from the Sally Ann. I used plain fabrics, here,  because I want to dye them with tea to give it an "old " look. You can use whatever colours you wish , but make it three complementary ones. One solid, one pattern and another solid mght be one of your ideas. Play around with what you have. Something always works.

 FIRST BORDER: Take scissors and cut fabric about 5 inches from long edge of fabric. Make sure you have enough yardage to do this; about  3 metres to be on the safe side. Whatever you hae leftover can be used in something else. Rip strips of textured fabric ( has a noticeable pattern and raised edges on the surface)   lengthwise. Only rip as much as you need to sew for all four edges of your quilt. You will need to measure all four sides to get exact  lengths, or eyeball it (that's that I do).  Sew  together pieces  to make one long strip that can go around the entire edge of your quilt top.
        Wth right sides together, sew strip to one long side first. cutting off when you get to the bottom. Repeat for other long side. Then attach strip to shorter sides of quilt. This is  your first border. It does not matter if you can see the joins in the seams of the material, since you will be quilting on  those seams.  At this point, you can iron the top to get ready for the next border. I usually wait till I am done.....I'm kind of lazy that way. Ironing it as you go is what the quilting experts would agree on.
      A lot of quilting teachers will recommed that you do NOT rip  fabric, but use fabric scissors to cut it properly. But I gave up on doing what I was told a long time ago. Besides, ripping the fabric is extremely satisfying. So, go ahead, rip away......

 MIDDLE BORDER: Take  scissors and cut 3 inches from long edge of middle border fabric. Rip fabric to make long strips like you did with the First Border. Join them into one long strip. Check to see that you have made enough strips. Attach to long edges first, then shorter edges, cutting at the ends as you get down to the bottom of each side.  Iron , if you feel so inclined.

 LAST BORDER: Take scissors and cut 4 1/2 inches from last fabric for border. Rip into strips and sew together as you have done previously. Attach in the same way, starting with long edges first, cutting each strip to fit the edge when you get down to the bottom . Once you are all done, you can iron away to your heart's content.

                                Finished Quilt Top before dyeing or before backing is added.