7 easy steps to make a scrappy border using strip sets

Yesterday on QUILTsocial I showed you the foolproof way to add borders to a quilt by measuring, cutting and pinning the borders before you sew. I used my OMNIGRID Ruler – 6″ x 24″ (15.2 x 61cm) and CLOVER 2501 – Silk Pins (Boxed) – 36mm (1³⁄₈″) to measure and pin and after sewing used my OLISO PRO^TM TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron – Tula Pink^TM to press all of the borders.

Today I’ll make a scrappy border for my quilt using some of the fabric left over from the FABRIC CREATIONS Fabric Bundle (5pcs) – Summertime Paris – 45 x 53cm (18in x 21in). Then I’ll use the two coordinating solids FABRIC CREATIONS 100% Cotton Fabric – Gray – 1.8 x 1m (2yds x 42in) and FABRIC CREATIONS 100% Cotton Fabric – Pink – 1.8 x 1m (2yds x 42″) to make some magic binding for the Amour Quilted Banner.

1 Cut strips of fabric.

First, I’ll cut some strips of fabric from the left-over fat quarters across the width of the fabric. There will be a selvedge edge at one end of each strip. I want to cut these strips all random widths, anywhere from 1½” to 3″ wide. I’ll cut 2 or 3 strips from each fabric.

2 Sew into pairs.

Next, I’ll sew them into pairs, but I want to make sure that I match up the selvedge edge of the strips and I’ll sew from the selvedge edge to the other side on each pair of strips.

Sew two strips together so that the selvedge edge matches up.

I’ll continue to sew two random strips together until all the strips have been sewn.

Randomly sew the strips together into pairs.

3 Sew strip pairs together into strips sets.

Now I’ll sew these pairs of strips together to make strip sets. Since I sewed from the selvedge edge to the other side on the pair, when I sew the pairs together, I’ll start sewing from the end that isn’t the selvedge. This will prevent my strips from stretching and prevent the strip set from curving.

I’ll make strip sets that are six strips wide which measure approximately 10″ across. This width is easy to manage for sub cutting.

Sew the pairs of strips together to make a strip set of six strips.

4 Square up the end of the strip sets.

Next, I’ll use my OMNIGRID Ruler – 6″ x 24″ (15.2 x 61cm), my OLFA RTY-2/GP5 – Printed Handle Rotary Cutter 45mm and my UNIQUE Double Sided Cutting Mat – 18″ x 24″ (45 x 60cm) to cut off the selvedge edge of the strip set and to square up the end. I’ll line up the lines on my ruler with the seams between the strips to make sure that the edge is perpendicular to the seams.

Square up the strip set and trim off the selvedge edge.

5 Sub cut the strip sets.

I want my outside border to finish as 2½” wide, so I’ll sub cut my strip sets into sections that are 3″ wide.

After I cut a few sections, I’ll square up my strip set again and then continue sub cutting.

Sub cut the strip set into sections that are 3″ wide, making sure to square up the strip occasionally.

6 Randomly set the sections together into borders.

When all of my sections have been cut, I’ll sew them together radomly into four long rows to make the borders. These strip cut can be rotated if two pieces of the same colour will end up together. I ended up sewing three sections together for each border.

Sew the sections together in groups of three to make four long strips.

7 Sew on the borders.

Now, I’ll follow the same process as I used yesterday to sew these borders to the quilt. I’ll measure the quilt from top to bottom through the middle and down each side and I’ll average these measurements to get the correct measurement for the borders. I’ll cut two borders this length and then will mark and pin them to the sides of the quilt before sewing.

Once sewn on, I’ll use my OLISO PRO^TM TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron – Tula Pink^TM and my UNIQUE QUILTING Wool Pressing Mat – 18″ x 24″ – Grey to press the seams towards the outside border.

Press the seams towards the borders.

I’ll repeat this same process to add the top and bottom borders and then I’ll pop the wall hanging on my longarm to quilt. But I almost forgot that I first need to pull the HeatnBond Stitch n Sew EZ Print Quilt Block Sheets – 20 pcs – 22 x 28cm (8½″ x 11″) off of the back of my paper pieced heart blocks. Since I used a short stitch length, the foundation paper will rip away easily.

Pull off the foundation paper from the back of the paper pieced heart blocks.

I’ll use FAIRFIELD Low-Loft® Quilt Batting – Crib – 114 x 152cm (45″ x 60″), and a piece of fabric that is at least 40″ x 30″ for my backing. If you’re quilting it on a domestic machine your backing could be a bit smaller.

For this quilt I’ll make magic binding following the same steps that I used for my QUILTsocial post on November 12, 2016 – Sewing a flanged binding onto your quilt. I’ll use the gray background fabric for the main fabric and the pink solid fabric for the accent color. I’ll cut three strips the width of fabric for each color for the binding. The accent fabric (pink) strips are cut 1½” wide and the main color fabric (gray) strips are cut 1¼” wide.

Cut the accent fabric strips 1½” wide and the main fabric strips 1¼” wide.

I’ll sew all the pink strips together end to end with a mitered join and will do the same with the gray strips. Then I’ll trim the excess fabric from the seams and press the seams open.

Next, I’ll sew the two long strips together using a ¼” seam and then will press the seam towards the gray (main) fabric.

Press the seam towards the gray fabric.

Now, I’ll press the binding in half lengthwise so that a thin edge of the accent fabric can be seen sticking out along the folded side.

Fold the binding in half lengthwise and press.

Now that the binding is ready, I’ll sew it to the back of the quilted banner, flip it to the front of the quilt and topstitch it – for more details check out my QUILTsocial post on November 12, 2016 – Sewing a flanged binding onto your quilt.

Here is my finished Amour Quilted Banner! As you can see, I quilted it with just straight vertical lines unevenly spaced across the entire quilt. I wanted to show that even if you haven’t quite mastered free motion quilting, you CAN quilt your own small projects with simple straight lines.

I really love how it turned out and think that the FABRIC CREATIONS Fabric Bundle (5pcs) – Summertime Paris – 45 x 53cm (18in x 21in) is really just perfect for the project.

The finished Amour Quilted Banner.

I love this fabric so much that I think I may use it for my next QUILTsocial post in a few months – stay tuned!

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: The fool-proof way to add borders to your quilt | Amour Quilted Banner

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