barbm Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 I need the help of the "quilting queens": I\'ve drafted and pieced this quilt top and have run into a roadblock in the border construction. On paper, I drew in a seminole border, assembled the strips and then realized that I\'m unsure how to do the corners. The only examples I can find (in books and on old Eleanor Burns shows) shows corners joined together as in the photo below. However, I REALLY would like to assemble the border to resemble the photo in the next post, but it wouldn\'t be a normal miter. Any advice from those who have done this before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted February 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Here\'s what I would really like the seminole border to look like: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skrat Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Barb, I have a book on this. Will look it up tonight and post tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted February 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Thanks, Shannon! Any help you can provide is much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Hi Barb, I\'m doing the very same thing on a quilt I\'ve worked on for about a year, a hand applique with siminole borders. You have to slip one piece of fabric up, without another right beside it. In one of my corners, I had too many of the same block, as in your first pict, and in the second the same.. the third went the other way.. What I ended up doing was taking the second side and slipping it down to where I had the "look "I wanted, then move the other down. Where I think I blew it, was in measureing the strip of seminole, I forgot to allow for the seam coming out of it at the intersections, where it\'s sewn to the quilt, so had to make extra strips to reach. That of course also meant I had to either make extra rows or cut down on the width of the piece I was sewing it to, and I couldn\'t do that. I also had to go back and take an extra row of stitching between a couple strips, actually very close to the former row, making it a wee bit larger seam and the block about 3 threads smaller. I can\'t find those places now. It can be fun, and so pretty, but frustrating to get to the end. I refuse to even attempt a flare skirt like our friend made for her Gdaughter and all were shaped to vit in that circle. Love your project.. very comfy colors! Good Luck. RitaR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 maybe this will show up.. Nope, will put it in my webshots if it\'s not there. incomplete, of course. lol RitaR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted February 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Rita, Your seminole border is breathtaking! I printed off your photo on webshots for future inspiration. Hope you don\'t mind.... But I still haven\'t figured out how to do the proper miter at the corners of my borders, since I will be adding a SOG border along the outside as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrussell2 Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Hi Barb--perfect instructions are given in The Border Workbook, 10th Anniversary Edition, by Janet Kime, put out by That Patchwork Place. I can tell you the border isn\'t difficult to do, requires no mitering whatsoever. When you attach each side border, the border will be slanted at each corner, not squared up, which means the quilt will be an octagon at that point. Four corner triangles will be needed to complete the border. I\'m sorry I can\'t explain it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrussell2 Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 I am thinking this is the effect you want. Trying to attach photo--hope it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrussell2 Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 One more try before I give up....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barbm Posted February 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Nancy, Your photo looks pretty much like what I want to achieve (very pretty, BTW!), except for a couple of things. I pieced the center of my quilt and added setting triangles to that I would have plenty of light colored space to quilt in, so the seminole border doesn\'t attach directly to the main piecing. Then comes the three-part seminole border (light, medium and dark squares), sorta floated away from the main piecing, and then a dark border. How do you figure out where to trim the body of the quilt in order to make it the right size for the borders? I think I understand how to trim the outside of the seminole strip so I can miter the dark border, but the inside has me stumped, short of trimming it down and then fine-tuning it. I guess I was hoping there was an elegant solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 You might try figuring out how many inches of pieced squares you wil have. If you measure on the diagonal, the diagonal measurement of the square is 1.414 times the side measurement of the square. If you know that each square should finish to 2.5 inches square, then the diagonal measurement of each one would be 3.5 inches. You can figure how many inches your body is (let\'s say 35), then figure out how many squares you would need to piece together to fit the body measurement (10 squares 2.5 finished inches each=35 inches). I hope that make sense. Reading back over it, it\'s clear as mud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Hi Barb, Since you have the border pieced, measure the exact length of the border where the true stitching line will be (you know, through those seam intersections). Do the measuring for all four border pieces. Then mark a square of those exact measurements on the inner section. You will need to check that every side is happy and fuss and fudge a bit, but you are making the top fit the borders, not the other way around! The marked line will be the stitching line you need for the borders to fit. Add a quarter inch out from that to mark a line to pin the border pieces to. Hopefully, everything will match up and fit. I don\'t think there is an easier way and you probably have figured something out and are moving on to the outer border now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 Ok, now I see what Barb is asking and what I had to do was take the measured strips and the measured top, minus the half inch for seams at each end.. then I machine basted the strip on. At the corner I set the next strip so light was against the background, then removed block 2 from whichever side seemed easiest and stair step sewed them together, then the third color.. Was a pain in the patootie, but it got it done for me.. and actually once I started was much quicker than I thought it would be. Oh, also use a pin, or air/water erase marker to keep track of which block you need to keep or get rid of, or the seam you have to take out & resew.. etc.. Less confusing to my minds eye. If the pict of the quilt will help anyone, give ideas, whatever.. have at it, hope you enjoy.. it\'s been a learning experience and fun along the way thanks to Heidi M who beat the technique into my head to do easy applique.. I think I\'m going to have a hard time deciding if I should keep the pink/lavender, or dark red roses... probably the roses since I did mess them up a bit.. thinking of ways to \'fix\' it so it will look better. LOL, I\'m a picky old bird. Good Luck, RitaR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BethDurand Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 I second the suggestion for the Border Workbook. I\'ve got a copy if you want to borrow it Barb. Send me an e-mail or U2U. Beth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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