{"title":"How to Add Borders to a Quilt Top So They Lie Flat","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/quilting/how-to-add-borders-to-a-quilt","category":{"slug":"quilting","name":"Quilting"},"creator":{"name":"Melanie Ham","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXrEE1TyCslZgsH1Pql51-Q","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcB6CPbe344"},"tldr":"Measure the quilt top through the centre, not the edge. Cut both side borders to one length, mark the quarters, pin and ease. 9 steps with video.","totalDurationSeconds":588,"difficulty":"easy","tools":["Tape measure","Rotary cutter","Long quilting ruler","Self-healing cutting mat","Square quilting ruler","Sewing machine","1/4-inch patchwork foot","Walking foot","Iron","Bone folder"],"materials":["Cotton quilting fabric for the borders","50 wt cotton thread","Glass head quilting pins"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Run a Tape Measure Down the Centre of the Quilt Top","text":"Lay the top flat and smooth it with your palms. Run a tape measure from the top edge to the bottom edge straight through the middle and note the number. Take the same reading twice more, once near the left edge and once near the right.The middle one is the reading that counts. The outside edges of a quilt top have been stretched by handling and by every bias seam in the piecing, so they measure longer than the quilt really is. Cut a border to a stretched edge and you have built the ripple in before you sew a stitch."},{"number":2,"title":"Read the Three Numbers Off the Tape and Average Them","text":"Melanie's three came out at 14 and 9/16, 14 and 7/16, and 14 and 9/16. She averaged them and rounded to 14 and a half, because that is a mark you can cut to without squinting.Cut both side border strips to that one length. Not to whatever each edge happens to measure. One number, two identical strips. If your three readings are more than about a quarter inch apart, the top is further out of square than it looks, and the border is what is going to pull it back."},{"number":3,"title":"Fold the Border Strip in Half and Crease the Centre","text":"Bring the two short ends of the strip together and pinch a hard crease at the fold. Open it, fold each half back to that centre crease, and pinch again. Four creases: two ends, a centre, two quarters.No pens and no pins for this. Finger pressing holds well enough on cotton for the few minutes it needs to, and it leaves nothing behind to pick out of a seam or wash off a light fabric later."},{"number":4,"title":"Fold the Quilt Top in Half to Find Its Centre","text":"Do the same to the quilt top. Fold it edge to edge and the fold lands on the centre, then fold again for the quarters. Keep the raw edges stacked while you do it or the crease goes in crooked.On a pieced top that centre fold should sit right on a seam. If it lands a quarter inch off one, something upstream is off by a fraction, and you want to find that out now instead of after the border is attached."},{"number":5,"title":"Press the Centre Fold Flat With a Bone Folder","text":"Run a bone folder down the fold to set a crease you can see from across the table. It takes one pass and costs nothing in fabric.A thumbnail is fine on a small top like this one. Go bigger and the crease wanders while you shift all that fabric around to reach the far end, and a centre mark that has moved is worse than no mark at all, because you will trust it."},{"number":6,"title":"Lay the Border Strip Along the Quilt Edge, Right Sides Together","text":"Turn the strip face down onto the quilt top so the right sides meet, then line up the raw edges. Match the centre crease on the strip to the centre crease on the quilt, then the two quarter creases, then the two ends.The strip and the quilt edge will not be the same length. They are not supposed to be. The strip is the honest measurement and the edge is the stretched one, and the gap between them is what you are about to ease away."},{"number":7,"title":"Pin the Border at the Centre, the Quarter Marks and Both Ends","text":"Pin every crease you matched. Both ends first, then the centre, then the two quarters. That splits the difference into four short runs instead of one long one, so no single stretch has to swallow all of it.Set the pins across the raw edge rather than along it. You can pull each one as the needle reaches it, and a pin lying across the seam holds the two layers in register instead of letting them creep."},{"number":8,"title":"Ease the Extra Quilt Fabric In Between the Pins","text":"Between the pins the quilt edge runs slightly longer than the strip. Spread that extra out with your fingertips as you go so it never gathers into a fold under the needle.Sew with the quilt side down against the feed dogs. The dogs pull the bottom layer through a touch faster than the presser foot moves the top one, which eases the longer layer in for you. That is the whole reason quilters say to put the fuller piece underneath."},{"number":9,"title":"Sew the Side Borders On, Then Measure the Full Width for the Top and Bottom","text":"Sew both sides with a quarter inch seam and press. Now measure again for the top and bottom, and this time the tape has to cross the side borders you just added, so the number is bigger than the one you started with.Three readings across the new full width, averaged the same way, then cut, crease, pin, ease and sew exactly as before. When the last strip is on, drop a square ruler into each corner and trim off any fraction that stops it sitting at 90 degrees."}],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-09-15T18:56:20.701Z","published":"2026-09-15T18:56:14.903Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit ShowMeStepByStep with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure."}