Monday, October 29, 2012

Braid in a Day QAL Sashing and Borders

Woo hoo!  Are your braids complete?  Ready to attach the sashing and borders?

I realise now I failed to document how to measure for the sashing and borders.  And of course, now I am at quilt retreat, and can't find my photos that show measuring for said sashing and borders.  So I'll just have to write out the instructions and trust if they don't make sense, someone will say so in the comments!  And I'll add a tutorial on the subject in the future.

The only trick to measuring for sashing or borders is this:  measure in three places, but never right along the edge of the quilt (or braid, in our case).  I measure once across the approximate middle, once near (but not right at) the top, and again near (but not right at) the bottom.  This measurement may be different in all three places.  If it is, no worries, just average the measurement.  That is the length to cut your sashing/border.

Fold the border in half with the short ends together and pin to mark the middle.  Do the same with the quilt, along whichever edge you are attaching the border.  If the border is slightly shorter than the quilt, sew with the quilt on the bottom.  If the opposite is true, sew with the border on the bottom.  The feed dogs on your machine will automatically take up the ease in the larger piece.  In other words, always sew with a relaxed bottom!

I completed my quilt top in the wee hours just before I took off for quilt camp.  I know this quilt is not the same as the Braid in a Day pattern, so don't panic and freak out -- it is one of my UFO-tober projects.  Same theory, different layout!


Here I am holding my finished top over the railing at the lovely Idaho B&B where my quilt retreat was held:


I haven't forgotten that I promised you all a shopping report on Northern Utah and Idaho.  I just forgot how busy things are at quilt retreat -- I hope you'll come back this weekend to admire my Saturday Stash.


From the desk of your auntmartisignature