Welcome to one more post in the ever-growing sequence for the Medallion Sew-Along! To join in and receive updates, just follow this blog. But whether or not you sew along with us, if you ever add borders to your quilts, this post can help you out.
Medallion quilts are defined by their borders, unlike block format quilts. And we all know that fitting borders isn’t always easy. When designing and applying borders, a lot of issues relate to size. Your border may be pieced or unpieced. Pieced borders, especially, can cause size problems.
Here are some questions you might have:
- How can I figure out the right unit size, if all units are the same length?
- How can I figure out the right unit size, if all units are not the same length?
- How can I fix the size of my center, so the next border will fit how I want?
NOTE that center refers to the quilt top prior to your next border. It includes the center block and any attached borders. Width is the distance from the quilt center outward. Length is the distance along the center’s edge. A unit is a pieced or unpieced portion of a border. An unpieced strip border has only one unit.
DETERMINING BORDER UNIT SIZES
All units are the same length and square
Divide the finished length of the next border by its width to determine number of units. Example: border is 40″ long and 4″ wide. 40/4 = 10. You would need 10 units 4″ wide.
All units are the same length but not necessarily square
If you don’t need square units, or if you haven’t decided the width of the border yet, find the divisors for the length. Example: border is 40″ long. Easy divisors are 1, 2, 2.5, 4, 5, 8, 16, 20, 40. Your units could be any of those lengths. If you want 16 units, use 40/16 = 2.5. Your 16 units will be 2.5″ long. They can be 2.5″ wide, also, and be square. Or you can have non-square units.
All units are NOT the same length
This gives all kinds of opportunities for creativity. For example, your work finishes at 36″, and you want a border 6″ wide. You could use 6 square units on each side, plus one in each corner.
But if you want to make a busy block as your primary unit, they might show better if they are not in every unit space. Here are some options, and then examples of the math.
1) Square units all around.
2) Alternating units with 2 corners fancy, 2 plain.
3) Narrow spacers split up the star units.
4) Wide spacers split up the star units.
The first illustration shows 6 stars per side plus one more for each corner. This works, but depending on what it surrounds, it may be way too busy.
The second layout alternates pieced blocks with plain. This works well when there are an odd number of units. When there are an even number as shown, it can look awkward.
The third and fourth illustrations use spacer units. Obviously, these are not the same length as the star blocks. In the third picture, they are narrower, and in the fourth they are wider.
How to calculate the length of spacer units
All sizes are finished. Add seam allowances before cutting.
A = length of border (not including corners)
B = length of primary units
C = number of primary units
D = BxC = total length of primary units
E = A – D = border length minus primary units = total length of spacer units
F = number of spacer units
G = E/F = length per spacer unit
Using illustration 4 above:
A = 36″
B = 6″
C = 2
D = 12″
E = 24″
F = 3
G = 8″
Your spacer units are each 8″ long. Your unfinished cut is 6.5″ x 8.5″.
BORDER LENGTH PROBLEMS
Yeah, I can hear you muttering out there. Sure, great, those solutions above might work great if you have a “normal” border length. But I don’t! Now what?
Possible solutions include:
- adding spacers between units, as discussed above
- trimming the prior border so the next will fit easily
- adding a spacer border.
Adding spacers between units
The examples above use a 36″ border length. What if your border is 41″? Nothing divides into 41 very easily, for uniformly-sized blocks. I’ll use the same procedure I did above, with 3 primary blocks instead of 2.
A = 41″ = length of border (not including corners)
B = 6″ = length of primary units
C = 3 = number of primary units
D = BxC = 18 = total length of primary units
E = A – D = 23 = border length minus primary units = total length of spacer units
F = 4 = number of spacer units
G = E/F = 5.75 = length per spacer unit
Your spacer units are each 5.75″ long.
Trimming the prior border
I have a top for which the “finished” measure actually is 41″. The last border applied is unpieced strips, so my easiest option is to trim the top to 40″.
For this example it’s easy. I’ll cut a half inch off each side. Sometimes it’s not as clear. Here is the math:
X = length of actual border
Y = length you want the border
Z = Y – X = total adjustment
Example: I have a 41″ actual length and want 40″. 40 – 41 = -1. Note the negative sign, which indicates I need to cut, not add. I need to trim a total of 1″. Usually I would do this by cutting a half inch from each side.
Another example: I have 67.75″ actual length and want 66″. 66 – 67.75 = -1.75. To trim off both edges, I’ll divide this by 2. -1.75/2 = -0.875. I’ll cut 7/8″ from each edge.
Adding a spacer border
An alternative to either of those above is adding a spacer border. Perhaps my actual size is 41″ and I’d like to increase it to 45″, because I have a specific idea of a border that will work well after that. The math works the same as you saw above.
X = length of actual border
Y = length you want the border
Z = Y – X = total adjustment
Example: 45 – 41 = 4. Note this is positive. I will ADD 4″ in total. Normally I would split this, so I’ll add a 2″ spacer to each side.
BORDER IDEAS
While this post addressed size problems, others have provided ideas for design. If you need ideas for pieced borders, you can find them here and here. And here and here.
And if you need more ideas, just ask! I have a bunch of them!