Solar Flare - Installment 4 - Borders

We are at the end of the process but one of the most important to get your quilt to hang straight.  Lay it on a flat surface to make sure that you get your best measurements. 

I had a bit of a ripple effect in one of the areas.  So at this point I took out my ruler and measured all the blocks.  I found that a two of the triangles that are setting triangles were about 1/8 inch wider than they should be.  So I managed a 1/16 seam on the outside edge of the block - Like a dart if you are familiar with dress making.  To make it lay flat.  This is the stage you want to make sure you are happy with the way your quilt lays flat. If not, once you put the borders on, it is sometimes a glaring mistake, and you hope to find it early in the process of making the quilt.

Once your quilt is laying flat, you are ready to measure it for borders.  You need to measure your quilt in three places to make sure you get a good measurement for the border.  This quilt should measure 48" square.   You measure it in the center, and at each end of the border you are putting on.  So you come up with three measurements.    Mine was 48 and 1/8 on one end, and 48" in the center, and then 48 and 1/16 on the other end.  I added up all three and divided by three, and I used the number of 48" for the borders.  I put a pin the in the center of the border and a pin in the center of the quilt.  That was my first matching point on the border.  Then I pinned the two ends.  Then I went to half and put a pin and so on until I had the whole border with enough pins I could manage to sew on the border with the best placement and no tucks.  

After I sewed the side border on, I pressed the border in place and added the other side in the same manner.  Once the side borders were on and pressed.  I measured for the top and bottom border the same way.  Your measurement will be different because you have added a border to both sides, but you will come up with another average and add that top and bottom border.  

The opposite borders should always be the same length. This helps the quilt hang straight once you are finished with the quilt.   I did a You Tube Video on this also for the visual learners.  

Click Here.  for you tube video