Quiltsmart 101: Adding Borders

By using the centerline length and width of your quilt top, the borders will help bring out-of-square quilt tops back into the proper shape.

The illustrations below show a Snowball quilt, but this technique can be used with any pattern.

1.	Trim away the selvages from your border strips.
2.	Sew all of your strips of first border fabric together end-to-end into one very long piece.

3.	Measure down the center of your quilt top. Cut two border sections to this length.
4.	Pin and stitch one of these strips to each side of your quilt top.

5.	Measure the centerline width of your quilt top (including the width of the two borders you’ve just added) and cut two more border sections to this length.

6.	Pin and stitch one of these strips to the top and bottom edges of your quilt top.