maggienoella Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 I have a quilt that I'm doing a beadboard on but I don't know how far apart I should put the lines. I was thinking about marking the narrower lines at 1/2 inch and the wider lines at 1.5 inches. Does that sound right or should I make them smaller? Or other suggestions? Thanks, Joan Edited to add this is a lap size quilt...I don't know if that matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlnewell Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 I usually do 2 lines 1/4 inch apart, and the other spacing is up to you, 1 - 2 1/2 inches. Depends on how dense you want the border quilted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggienoella Posted January 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Thanks, Debbie! That's great. Joan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Hi Joan. You want a spacing that is pleasing to the eye, but the quilt police aren't coming to check. I think for nice proportions, the wider the wide spaces are apart the wider you can get away with your narrower spaces being. Inversely, if your wides are closer together, the closer together the narrowers should be. Draw your spacing on paper and see how it looks. My completely unofficial opinion is that if you want 1/2" narrow space, the other measurement should be 2" or more. If you want to do 1.5" wide boards, skinny the narrow down to 1/4". That's an easy one to stitch because you can stitch one line and snug up a ruler to it and when you stitch again you'll get a quarter inch without marking the second line.. If there isn't convenient evenly-spaced piecing on the border seam to use for placement, you can space however you want. My favorite tool for piano key-type space marking is the Simflex pleat-marking expanding tool. You can purchase from Nancy's Notions and I use it all the time. This tool makes marking so easy. You measure your area, decide how many boards you want across, and divide the numbers. The number you get is how wide your boards will be. If they're too wide for your taste, go up on the number of spaces and divide again until you get close to the spacing you want. Expand the fingers of the tool until the space between is what you need and use the fingers to mark all along the border. Make sure the last mark is at your ending spot. I mark with soft chalk so I can fine-tune if need be. Works great especially if the opposite borders are somehow not exactly the same measurement. How does that happen?! You can easily fine-tune the width to have the number of boards the same on both borders. I'll see if I can find a link to the tool. Here it is. http://www.nancysnotions.com/product/simflex+expanding+gauge.do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat C Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 I've been know to cut a piece of paper calculator tape the length of the border, then fold it evenly in the width you want your beadboards to be. It's not as easy to use as a tool, but it works in a pinch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpkinpatchquilter Posted January 25, 2014 Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 Bead board borders are quickly becoming a favorite for me! I don't know what ruler you have, but I have the small straight SID ruler from Quilters Rule - I want to say it's about 2.5 or 3" wide? The very widest bead board I generally do is the use the middle line of that ruler to the edge against my foot for the wide space - then the small space I use the first 1/4" line. Now, I have an older foot on my machine so it adds 1/4" to all of those numbers...so my largest space is about 1 and 3/4" wide while my smaller space is about 1/2". I have found this works amazingly well for super full borders to ease everything in!! Good luck and can't wait to see pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggienoella Posted January 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 Well, I finished the quilt and here's a little photo. It's not perfect but it was ok. I've ordered the simplex product and I know that will be easier. Thanks, Joan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmkeindl1 Posted January 30, 2014 Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 Hi Joan. You want a spacing that is pleasing to the eye, but the quilt police aren't coming to check. I think for nice proportions, the wider the wide spaces are apart the wider you can get away with your narrower spaces being. Inversely, if your wides are closer together, the closer together the narrowers should be. Draw your spacing on paper and see how it looks. My completely unofficial opinion is that if you want 1/2" narrow space, the other measurement should be 2" or more. If you want to do 1.5" wide boards, skinny the narrow down to 1/4". That's an easy one to stitch because you can stitch one line and snug up a ruler to it and when you stitch again you'll get a quarter inch without marking the second line.. If there isn't convenient evenly-spaced piecing on the border seam to use for placement, you can space however you want. My favorite tool for piano key-type space marking is the Simflex pleat-marking expanding tool. You can purchase from Nancy's Notions and I use it all the time. This tool makes marking so easy. You measure your area, decide how many boards you want across, and divide the numbers. The number you get is how wide your boards will be. If they're too wide for your taste, go up on the number of spaces and divide again until you get close to the spacing you want. Expand the fingers of the tool until the space between is what you need and use the fingers to mark all along the border. Make sure the last mark is at your ending spot. I mark with soft chalk so I can fine-tune if need be. Works great especially if the opposite borders are somehow not exactly the same measurement. How does that happen?! You can easily fine-tune the width to have the number of boards the same on both borders. I'll see if I can find a link to the tool. Here it is. http://www.nancysnotions.com/product/simflex+expanding+gauge.do I have something like that that I always thought was for spacing button holes?! What a great idea to use it for this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpkinpatchquilter Posted January 30, 2014 Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 Looks great!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlnewell Posted January 30, 2014 Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 Looks good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie H Posted January 30, 2014 Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 The Nancy's catalog I have offers free shipping on orders over $30, good until 3/21/14. Code is 141206-8455 if anyone is interested! I'll see if I can find a link to the tool. Here it is. http://www.nancysnotions.com/product/simflex+expanding+gauge.do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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