Help, Math Attack

I have lost my brains and my quilt calculator has lost it's working parts. As a result, I can't figure for the life of me how much fabric it will take to put a 4" border onto a quilt that is 66" square. Please help. I have a very, very limited piece of fabric for the border. If I need I can trim the border to 3 inches. But I'd rather have 4. Just right now I can't figure out how much it will take. Somebody please rescue me.

Gratefully, Sunny

Are you okay with it being pieced from 44inch wide sections? Or did you want each border section to consist of only one piece of fabric?

Connie :) (Who's crazily whippin' her FabriCalc into a frenzy for the answer!!)

So, 2 yards for unpieced border sections, 1 yard for pieced, right?

Hugs!! Connie :)

It's never a good idea to cut borders from the width of the fabric. JMO Well, unless you are using a directional print. Then all bets are off.

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Kim, you are absolutely right. I'm going back to buttonhole stitching.... I don't have to count or measure for that. Sorry, Sunny!

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.- with 92 fingers and toes in this house you'd think I could count that high! VBG

You can quit being jealous- Kim just made me look like a silly blonde- even tho I've been a brunette for a year now! I was totally incorrect and I sure hope Sunny ignored me!

Oh Sunnnnyyyyyy, please ignore meeeeeee!!!

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Ooops...not so. You'd need to cut 2 strips 66 in. long and 2 strips 74 1/2" long [don't forget, once you've added your side strips, the top strips need to be length of top plus {width of strip X2} + 1/2" Or, if you do partial seams, and add the borders all around the quilt, you can cut 4 pieces 70 1/2" long...assuming the top is 66". Add 1/2" if top measures 66 1/2"

If you're cutting width of fabric strips, assuming fabric is 42", and assuming you don't mind the extra seams that result, you'll need a total of

True, but I didn't know how little fabric she has. And I *have* been known, a time or two, to break the rules like that when I didn't have enough fabric ('specially at times where my fabric is older and I can't get anymore - or if I'm just too durn impatient to wait until it ships!!).

Though I have to admit, the three that I did that with were utility quilts - not what I'd consider heirloom quality. I'm usually a slave to the rules when it comes to heirlooms.

Hugs!! Connie :) (Still VERY jealous over Leslie's math sense!!)

It's just a bit too much to use 1.5 WOF strips per side, so you need 7 strips cut 4.5" wide to give a 4" border. That's

If you drop back to a 3" border it would be 24.5".

It will require more than one join in at least one border.

Just curious... other than the need to piece them... why do you prefer to NOT cut borders from the width of the fabric?

Most of my borders are cut from the width of the fabric. I don't mind that they are pieced, and it usually takes less fabric. I do realize that the lengthwise is a bit more stable, but I've never had any problems.

Julia in MN

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Leslie & The Furbabies > It's never a good idea to cut borders from the width of the fabric. JMO

You need 2 pieces 66.5" long = 133", plus 2 pieces 74.5" = 149", plus 3-4" for seams, grand total about 286". Assuming your fabric is not 2 yards long (or we wouldn't be having this discussion), divide by 40" WOF, so that's more than 7 strips. Unless you really have 42" of usable WOF! But if it's 8 strips, at 4.5" wide, that's exactly a yard with no wiggle room. Roberta in D

"Sunny" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@s12g2000prg.googlegroups.com...

Why?

Mickie

I've always been told that it's because the grain in the WOF is not as stable as the LOF grain ... I usually do my best to have my borders cut LOF, but if I don't have enough fabric, I'll piece my borders (though not if it's a "heirloom" quilt or a gift). For me, I also don't like how pieced borders look unless the prints match (and I'd rather not match prints if I don't have to!!).

Hugs!! Connie :)

Confession: I almost always cut WOF, depends on the print design. I also usually don't measure the top through the middles, and I just sew on border strips and cut them off when I get to the end of the seam. Nothing bad ever happens. Knock wood. But I'm a pretty good piecer, most of the time, so the borders are not burdened with the task of squaring up my top. Roberta in D

"Mickie Swall" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:477ceb77$1 snipped-for-privacy@news.nauticom.net...

Well, Mickie, us mere mortals tend to have enough difficulties keeping our quilt tops laying flat and hanging straight. If you factor in the stretch of the crosswise borders it can be a recipe for disaster and a set of wobbly sides multiplied until the border looks like a ruffle!

Or were you referring to directional prints with the 'why'. I always cut crosswise borders for the top and bottom and lengthwise for the sides when there's a direction to the print. I don't like the look of a field of daffodils laying on it's side across the top and bottom of my quilt.....

Did I cover all possibles for your 'why'? VBG

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

I am a firm believer in measuring through the middle.... but this time my piecing must have been pretty good. The quilt is exactly 66" square. As it should be.

Anyway, I have strips cut and I'm putting on the borders. The longer border will have to be pieced. No getting around it, unless I make cornerstones -- and I'm really considering that.

This is a little quilt that was supposed to be a cuddler for me. But DH saw it as I was getting it pinned for quilting and said he wanted it for our bed. Only larger, of course. Bedsized. So I started adding borders. I will put one last black border around the edges after this one. Not to worry, I have plenty of that one. The quilt won't be truly queen sized, but it will cover the top of our bed. Mostly. Should end up around a 78" square. I think I will have to give it a try quilting on the long-arm at the LQS. I have almost no practice on that beast, but this is a big quilt and no way am I going to wrangle it through either the Janome or the Pfaff.

With the Pfaff, I have most of the features of the Janome 6600 without spending a penny. This leads me to t hink about purchasing a Janome

Thanks for all the math help. You guys saved me a lot of fuss and worry.

Sunny

I *love* cornerstones in borders - pieced ones are the most favourite. . In message , Sunny writes

Howdy!

Roberta, you rebel!

R/Sandy-- cutting the border whichever way it calls and mindful that Mickie has been a Professional Quilter for a while, as some others have... ;-D