Making mitered corners doesnt' hjave to be hard.Start with a small application to gain confidence in making excellent mitered corners every time!
Scrappy Corners is a free scrap stash quilt pattern download. Download the free pattern and sew through your scrap stash!
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Bored with normal straight quilt borders? Ready to try something new? Continue reading to learn how to miter a quilt corner for a new look!
Making a mitered quilt border
Updated 4-25-12 with new and improved pictures! In honor of Sew, Mama, Sew’s quilting month I am finally getting around to posting this pictorial tutorial (say that 10 times fast!) on how to …
Are you ready to learn how to do a mitered border for your quilts? It is really not that hard and this tutorial from Amy of Amy’s Creative Side shows you how to do it. With a video, step-by-…
Bored with normal straight quilt borders? Ready to try something new? Continue reading to learn how to miter a quilt corner for a new look!
Making a mitered quilt border
For a lot of beginning quilters, making mitered corners is a bit well, terrifying. It looks complicated. Today we are going to take the fear away and you will actually be ready to do this technique on any of your quilts or quilt blocks. To show you the difference between mitered corners and traditional corners, we have made two samples. You will notice the one on the left is the traditional way to add your borders. Your border is as long as the quilt is long and then ends and the top border is then sewn across. If you are using stripes, this can be a bit abrupt. By mitering your corners, you can make the fabric appear almost seamless as it travels around the corner. This is pictured on the right. The first step is to square up your quilt top. Take a square ruler and place in each of the corners. If anything needs to be trimmed, do it now. For this tutorial, we will be working with an 18 ½ x 20 ½ inch square. Our border strips will be 3 inches wide. In order to determine the length of our strip, we will need to use this formula: We have already cut our border length at 30 ½ inches. We now need to cut our border width at 3 inches. To keep the continuous flow, you will want to start and stop your cutting at the same spot for each strip. You might need to trim some excess fabric to keep your stripe in the same place. For this step, we are using a red and pink stripe fabric from Tula Pink's All Stars Collection. We will start each one of the strips on a pink stripe. We have cut away the extra red stripe. Now, go ahead and cut your first strip- for this tutorial, we cut the strips at 3 inches wide and are using the Creative Grids 3 x 12 inch Turn Around Ruler. Once the first strip is cut, put a marker (we used a Clover Binding Clip) on the side of your first cut. This will help you remember what side is to be sewn to your quilt top. This is also important because it will keep your stripes flowing around your quilt and they should match up on the diagonal when you are all done. Notice that the marker is on the pink stripe. Now cut the second border strip for the 20 ½ inch side. Remember to cut on the same stripe and put your marker on the same stripe. Our next step is to mark the center of each of the 20 ½ inch sides of your quilt top. Fold the edges together and put a pin in the fold. Do this on both sides of your quilt top. Then, mark the center of each of your 20 ½ inch border strips on the side you will be sewing to your quilt top. Fold edges together and put a pin in the fold on the edge that is to be sewn to your quilt top. Now, mark the border strip to measure 20 ½ inches. Start from the center pin and go out 10 ¼ inches on both sides. Then do it on the second strip as well. Now, we are going to attach our borders to our quilt top. First, match up centers and pin. Then, match up each edge that is marked and line up on the end and pin. You can now fill in with extra pins if you would like. Then go ahead and do the opposite side. Before we can sew, we need to measure in 1/4 inch from each edge. With a Frixion pen and a ruler, measure in and make a mark. You should have 4 marks at this point, one on each corner of your quilt top. You will sew from each of your 4 marked lines - line to line- using a 2.0 stitch length and a 1/4 inch seam. Put your needle down exactly at the first mark, take a couple of stitches forward and backward, doing a tack stitch. Sew directly to your mark and make sure to do a tack stitch at the end as well. If you go beyond your mark, you will want to unpick those stitches. Sew the other side the same way. Press seams towards your border. Now, let's move to the shorter sides of your quilt. Let's review our formula, but note that the numbers change because it's the shorter side: We have gone ahead and cut our borders for our 18 ½ inch sides of our quilt. They measured 3 inches wide by 28 ½ long. Find the center by folding in half and placing a pin in the fold. Again, you will mark the center of your quilt top. Gently fold the already sewn border out of the way and match each corner to find the center. Then mark the centers of your border strips and measure out from the center pin 9 ¼ inches and put a pin in there. Line up the centers and begin to pin. When you get to the corners, move the other border gently out of the way. Simply fold it back so you can see your corner, Line up the edge and pin. Now, flip your quilt top over so you can see your previous stitching. Put your needle down exactly where your stitching ended on the other borders. If you do this, you will not have any puckers or open spots. Be sure to do a tack down stitch at the beginning and the end. Complete your seam by ending at the other corner where the former stitching started. If you stitch too far over, you will need to unpick these stitches. Now, you can see you have your four borders attached. You also have four tails. It is supposed to look like that. Press all seams toward the borders and make sure you don't have any holes or puckers. Fold your quilt on the diagonal. Don't be worried about the quilt, BUT pay very close attention to your borders. Line up your border strips along the top and bottom, right sides together. Put in a lot of pins to keep the edges of the border together. On the back side, you have a seam that is pressed towards the border. You need to flip that seam up and put a pin in it to hold it up. By doing this you will not get a pucker when you start stitching. With everything lined up, take a ruler that has a 45 degree angle marking on it. You will push the border seam up and line your 45 degree marking on the stitching line. Using a Frixion pen, draw a line right where your previous stitch ended to the edge of the border fabric. You now have your perfect miter. Put your needle down exactly where your previous stitching left off. Sew on the drawn line. NOTE: If you start stitching at the edge of the border, you will end up with puckers. Be sure to do a tack stitch at the beginning and at the end of your stitching. You have sewn your first border. Open it up and make sure it doesn't have any puckers. If you have any problems, fix it before you cut the excess fabric away. Make sure that everything is out of the way and lying flat. With a ruler, cut the excess fabric away leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Now we are going to press. We will press from the back and press the miter seam open. Gently open the seam with your fingers, then using the tip of a hot iron press flat along the seam. Then you want to take the flap where the quilt top and borders meet and press it toward the borders. Turn quilt back over and give a really good pressing from the front. Congratulations! You have made your first mitered corner borders. Supplies used in this tutorial: Olfa Splash Rotary Cutter Olfa Rotary Blades Flower head pins Havel Seam Ripper (good to always have on hand) Clover Wonder Clips Frixion Pen Creative Grids 3 x 12 inch Turn Around Ruler All Stars by Tula Pink
In this video sewing tutorial, I will show you how to sew mitered corners. If you are looking for easy quilt binding corners check out my ideas on how to sew a mitered corner binding and mitered quilt borders.
Handy video from quilt designer Patrick Lose gives you an easy way to make perfect corners when you bind a quilt. #quiltbinding, #quiltingforbeginners
Bored with normal straight quilt borders? Ready to try something new? Continue reading to learn how to miter a quilt corner for a new look!
You've got to get the binding on your quilt nice and straight to get the perfect look. Read this quilting tutorial to get perfectly straight corners on quilt binding.
Bored with normal straight quilt borders? Ready to try something new? Continue reading to learn how to miter a quilt corner for a new look!
Making mitered corners doesnt' hjave to be hard.Start with a small application to gain confidence in making excellent mitered corners every time!
In this video sewing tutorial, I will show you how to sew mitered corners. If you are looking for easy quilt binding corners check out my ideas on how to sew a mitered corner binding and mitered quilt borders.
Ever since sharing my Winsome quilt last week I've received a lot of questions about how I did the scalloped border. I admit that up until this month I was completely intimidated by the idea of scallops, and also a little afraid I'd mess up my quilt. So today I wanted to share a tutorial showing how I created the scalloped border. Are you ready to try it? First of all, here's what we're talking about. See the curved edges on the quilt below? That's a scalloped border. Around the web you can find a variety of different tutorials and tricks to make scallops. Each technique seems to have a different "look" to them. Some have deeper curves, some are more of a "wave" look -- personally I prefer the size and shape of these scallops. Plus the tool I used here* makes scallops SO easy and you can use this template for any size quilt. I'm not one to buy a bunch of unnecessary rulers, but this is definitely one that I'm happy to have in my toolbox. I've used it twice in the last month and I know I'll be using it again. **This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) when purchases are made through links found in this post. Thank you! Ready to get started? Here's what you'll need: Scallops, Vines, & Waves ruler from Quilt in a Day (find it here on Amazon*) Marking tool of some kind like a disappearing ink pen or another non-permanent marking pen Sharp scissors Pins Bias bindingYou'll also need a quilt that has already been quilted and is ready for binding. I'd recommend having no less than a 2.75" or 3" border on your quilt. Keep in mind that if your border is less than 2.5" or 2.75" then you'll be cutting into the block portion of your quilt top when you cut the scallops! Step 1: Trim the edges of your quilt so they're even. Sometimes after quilting the edges of a quilt can be a bit wavy and you'll want a nice, straight edge to work with. I went around my whole quilt and trimmed the border to be 3.25" all the way around. Step 2: Ok. Time for just a bit of math - and this is the trickiest part, I promise! Measure the width and length of the quilt top. Subtract 4" from each. For example: width: 68" - 4" = 64" length: 77" - 4" = 73" Take these two numbers and refer to the chart on page 15 of the booklet that comes with the ruler. By looking at the chart* I can see that for the top and bottom edge of the quilt I can get 8 scallops that are each 8" long. And on the sides of the quilt I can get 9 scallops that will be about 8" long. So now I know I'll be making 8" long scallops. It's okay if your scallops are different sizes, but you'll want them as close in size as possible. Having 6" long scallops along the top edge and 9" long scallops along the sides would be noticeable. But having 7.5" and 8" scallops would not be. *If you want to skip the chart and do the math yourself, scroll to the very bottom of this post and I'll step you through it. You really have a lot more options when you do the math yourself so it's worth taking a look! Step 3: Use a straight ruler and a marking tool/pen to mark a diagonal line through the border to the corner. I started marking mine with a hera marker but then realized the markings don't show up in photos well, so I added the purple line so you could see what I meant. Step 4: From step 2, I've determined that my scallops will be 8" long. So I find the 8" marking on the scallop ruler and place that on the diagonal line. Be sure to have the solid line of the ruler placed on the edge of the quilt. Place a pin to mark the 8" spot on the other end of the ruler (see the circle in the photo below). Step 5: Mark two more scallops in the same manner - placing the 8" ruler mark on the previous pin and adding a new pin where the next 8" ruler mark is. Step 6: After marking three scallops, move all the way down to the next corner and start marking scallops heading to the left. Any size adjustments to the scallops will need to be made on the center scallops so we're starting on the corners and working our way in to the center. Place the 8" mark of the ruler on the diagonal line as we did previously. Place a pin in the 8" mark on the left end of the ruler. Then move the ruler to the left and mark the next scallop in the same manner (see photo above). Step 7: Keep marking scallops on each end a couple at a time until you meet in the middle. The photo below is where I met in the middle of my quilt - see how that center scallop will be larger than 8"? It looks like my measurements are way off, but no worries! This is where the adjusting comes in. Because my center scallop is too large, I can go back through the center 3 or 4 scallops and adjust each one to be just a bit larger than 8". It is important that you only adjust the center scallops and not the ones on the corners. For my quilt, the center few scallops ended up being more like 8.25" long but that difference is not noticeable in the finished quilt. Step 8: Repeat steps 4-7 for the opposite side of the quilt, and then for the top and bottom of the quilt. On the top and bottom of my quilt my center scallop was too small. So I needed to adjust the center few scallops just a bit shorter than 8". They were more like 7.75" long, but again that wasn't noticeable in the finished quilt. Step 9: Once all scallops are marked with pins, you're ready to draw the scallops. I used a Fine Point Disappearing Ink pen (air and water soluble) to mark my scallops. But you can use any non-permanent marking pen. Fat Quarter Shop has a Sewline Air Erasable Fabric Pen here that would work great. Be sure to line up the solid line on the ruler with the edge of your quilt! (see photo below) Draw the scallop then move the ruler down, using the pins and the edge of the quilt to line up the ruler. TIP: Leave the pins in your quilt until you begin cutting! I had to step away from my quilt and by the time I got back, some of my scallops had faded and I needed to re-draw them. I was so glad the pins were still there! Continue marking the scallops around the edge of the quilt until you come back around to where you began. You can see in the photo below how the arc of the scallop matches up with the other one at the corner. Once the scallops are drawn, use a pair of sharp scissors to cut along the drawn lines. Remove pins as you go. Honestly, this was the nerve wracking part for me! Double check your scallops if you need to, then just take a deep breath and start cutting. My corners had a bit of a point to them, which is not unusual (see photo below)... ...so I just used my scissors to smooth out that curve. Much better! You did it! Well done. See....not that bad, right? Now you're ready to add the binding. You'll need bias binding for this quilt which will help it to lay beautifully flat around all of those curved edges. I cut my bias binding strips at 2.25 for this project. Binding this quilt works just like binding a regular quilt but at each scallop "valley" you'll stop at the bottom point, leave your needle in the fabric and pivot the quilt to line up the edge of the next scallop. Then keep going. The first few scallop "valleys" may feel strange to you but you'll quickly get the hang of it. I do recommend machine stitching the binding to the front of the quilt, and then hand stitching it to the back of the quilt. Everyone has their preferred way of doing quilt binding so it's hard to say what will work best for you. Some tips: One thing I learned is that it's a lot less exact than I thought it needed to be. Small adjustments in the middle few scallops are not noticeable in the finished quilt. The first time you make scalloped edges on a quilt will be the slowest. Then you'll get the hang of it and it will be quicker next time - and more fun. If you prefer more of a wavy edge instead of a true scallop, the same ruler will help you with that - another reason to have this ruler in your toolbox. There are separate instructions inside the booklet for doing a wavy edge, plus another section for adding applique vines to a quilt. It really is such a useful tool! If you have any additional questions that I didn't answer just add them to the comments at the bottom of the post! And for more details about the quilt shown in these photos, visit this blog post. Want to figure out the math on your own? Here's how: Measure the width and length of the quilt top. Subtract 4" from each. For example: width: 68" - 4" = 64" length: 77" - 4" = 73" Next, we want to find a number that we can divide them both by (or close enough). This will help us determine the size of the scallop and how many will be on each side. In this case, I can divide 64 and 73 both by 8 64 / 8 = 8 73 / 8 = 9.125 (which is really close to 9 so we'll be rounding that down) So now I know that across the top of my quilt I can make 8 scallops that are 8" long and down each side I can make 9 scallops that are 8" long. Want to see another example? Let's say you've made a baby quilt that is 45" x 45" width: 45" - 4" = 41" length: 45" - 4" = 41" If I divide by 7, I get 5.85 So I can make 6 scallops per side that are about 7" long If I divide by 8, I get 5.125 Which means I could make 5 scallops per side that are about 8" long If I divide by 4, I get 10.25 Which means I could make 10 scallops per side that are about 4" long See how many options you have when you do the math yourself? I love that! There is a bit of wiggle room and you really can play around with what size of scallop you want to have. With a smaller quilt like a baby or crib size, I'd probably go for a shorter length of scallop. But for a queen or king I'd use a longer scallop. When doing the math, there's no one right answer. Play around with the numbers and you can even go ahead and mark a few scallops on the quilt to see if you like the scale of the scallop in comparison to the quilt design! Be sure to pin one of these images so you can find this tutorial again later!
Quilt borders do not need to be boring. After the simple steps of adding a quilt border, we'll explore quilt border ideas beyond the simple corner blocks, or simple border. Next time you finish the center of your quilt, try a new border with great designs. The quilt's border is a great place to add new blocks, your favorite quilting designs and more.
Use our quilt border calculator to calculate yardage for quilt borders and how many strips you need to cut to make your borders.
Antique 1950's cotton patchwork quilt. Lone Star quilt using a pink, blue and gold on white fabric. Has an 55" star in center corner, and two pink and white borders around the star. The diamond pieces are 3 1/2" x 1 1/2". Blocks are machine pieced. Exquisite hand quilting. White binding rolled over from back and hand sewn. Batting is thin, quilt is rather lightweight. Back is plain white cotton fabric. Fabrics are in excellent condition, no fading, two small stains on front of quilt, and a few stains on back of quilt but not noticeable from the front. Quilt measures 79" x 77". Great example of an primitive utilitarian antique quilt. This quilt is from our personal collection of antique quilts. "Vintage" means "old" and most vintage items have had a previous life.
Lately (if you haven't noticed) I have really been into rounded corners on my quilts. I really like how it looks, and how it seems to soften the quilt-- which I especially love for baby quilts. The great thing about rounded corners is you don't have to do mitered corners on your binding. The bad part is you MUST use bias binding. (there are many tutorials out there on how to make continuous binding...i'm hoping to get a tutorial up soon on how I do it. Most everyone does it the same way). Rounding your corners is super duper easy peasy. Really it is, the hardest part is the bias binding. Here's how I do it. Once your quilt is quilted, trim the backing and batting and square it up. next, I fold my quilt in half, and find a rounded object (I use a bowl or lid...or a toy that's floating around my sewing space) that gives you a good curve on your corner. I don't have a great method other than eyeballing it to determine what size curve to use. trace your arc with a disappearing ink pen, or a pencil like I use because I have misplaced my pen. using scissors, cut your curve (I do two layers at once). repeat tracing the arc and cutting on the other two corners of your quilt. that's it. You should now have 4 rounded corners. They do not have to be perfect, the binding helps to smooth out any imperfections. now your quilt is ready to attach bias binding. Use whatever method you usually use for attaching. I am a machine binder, so I attach to the back and sew down on the front. As you approach your corner, just ease your bias binding around the corner, and guide it into your machine. It works out great. I try not to stretch it too much, but it really doesn't hurt much if you do. (my son just asked if this picture of my hands was grandma...oh boy, i feel so much younger than my hands look, lol.) when enclosing the binding around your quilt, it will almost ease itself around the corner. It's wonderful how easy it is. that's it, once your binding is completely attached, you should have rounded corners on your quilt.
Making mitered corners doesnt' hjave to be hard.Start with a small application to gain confidence in making excellent mitered corners every time!
Welcome everybody! Today I will show you a fourth option for going around corners using the Ribbon Candy pattern. The concept of this option ‘Flow’ is quilting up to the diagonal in the…
Technique: PiecingSkill Level: BeginnerFinished Size 43" x 14"Center uses 1/2 yardFirst Border uses 1/2 yardBinding and Corner stones 1 YardBacking 1 yard
A loooong time ago I became increasingly frustrated with all the ways that existed to baste my larger quilts. I tried pin basting and oh m...
Tacking binding to make mitered corners is a skill all quilters strive to learn. Learn the steps and a trick or two to improve the process for your…
Don't know what a mitered corner is? Think of it like an envelope closure for the corners. I will show you two ways to make them.
Kate Bashynski, a member of the Sewing With Nancy team, designed the No-Math Miter Template Set to miter corners quickly and easily. Use the No-Math Miter
Kim's Rope - Border - Panto/Corner Set - Pantograph © 2019 Kim Brunner Set Includes: Pantograph with matching corner. RECOMMENDED HEIGHT 1.5 inches or Larger. DIGITAL (computerized quilting systems): Zip file includes: BQM, CQP, DXF, HQF, IQP, PAT, QLI, SSD, TXT, WMF and 4QB or PLT. Most designs also include a DWG, GPF, PDF, PNG and SVG.
Like I said yesterday, I was feeling like I needed some spring in my life and what better way to feel spring-ish than a new spring-li...
See how to sew quilt binding: first, how to bind a quilt, and how to sew mitered corners. Make your quilt binding corners look beautiful - the easy way!
Tutorial for using bias binding for finishing a quilt including cutting your own bias binding strips and how to finish rounded quilt corners.
by Donna Hussain An advantage of belonging to a quilt circle is that group members share their quilting skills. In the past year I have le...
Don't know what a mitered corner is? Think of it like an envelope closure for the corners. I will show you two ways to make them.
A step by step tutorial with a video and photos to show you how to create a mitered corner in your quilt binding! Don't get frustrated, I can show you how.
