quilt club with stacey lee

WEEK 4 – RAIL FENCE QUILT – MAKING AND ATTACHING A QUILT BORDER

RAIL FENCE QUILT

This week we will make and add a border to our quilt tops, it’s going to be fun to do something new again! I would also like you to go on and baste your quilts using the instructions from Your First Quilt. You may need to adapt a little to make your backing big enough for your quilt.

Here’s what I want you to do: Watch my YouTube videos and read the notes, then let’s add a border and finish our quilt tops.

VIDEOS TO WATCH

Week 4 – Part A – Rail Fence Quilt – How to Make a Quilt Border

Week 4 – Part B – Rail Fence Quilt – How to Attach a Quilt Border

TO READ

Week 4 – Rail Fence Quilt – Making and Attaching a Quilt Border

Checklist

Rail Fence Quilt Supplies List 

BASTING INFO

Videos to watch Preparing Your Quilt for Basting
Videos to watch How to Baste Your Quilt
To read Basting Your Quilt

TOOLS NEEDED

Pins, scissors, sewing machine, ¼” foot, standard foot, pencil or washable marker, ruler, rotary cutter, self healing mat, quilting basting pins, painters/masking tape

SUPPLIES NEEDED

Fabric for your border, quilt top, thread

Backing fabric, batting

NOTES
 

When making borders I prefer to make them with the joins on the diagonal. This way I feel that the joins don’t stand out as much and we can use straight joins when it is part of the design of the quilt. You don’t have to do this, you can do your joins however you would like. However, the following instructions are for borders with diagonal joins.

How many strips you need to cut if you went by my recommended quilt sizes:

56” x 56” = 7 strips

72” x 80” = 9 strips

64” x 64” = 8 strips

80” x 96” = 11 strips

MAKING YOUR BORDER

Cut your ironed fabric into 4½” strips

Place a 4½” strip with the right side facing you horizontally

Then place another 4½” strip with the wrong side facing you vertically

Make sure there is lots of clearance from selvedge’s

With a ruler draw a 45 degree angle line from corner to corner to use as your sewing guide

Pin on each side, making sure you have room to sew

Flip your join over, so the right side of the fabric is facing you

Continue on until you have done the above steps for all your strips

Sew along the line with a standard foot

Open it up to check the edges line up to make one longer piece of fabric

Repeat for all your strips

Trim the excess fabric to ¼” seam and the little triangles

Set the seams Press open

SQUARE OFF YOUR QUILT TOP

Check the edges of your quilt

If you have edges sticking out give them a trim

CUTTING YOUR BORDER LENGTHS

Cut the borders for the sides of our quilt first

Layout your quilt top so it is nice and smooth

Measure your strips from the middle of your quilt

Lay your strips smoothly on top of your quilt top

Cut it past the edge of your quilt with scissors

Repeat so you have two strips With your rotary cutter, ruler, and self healing mat cut your strips so they are lined up to the edge of your quilt top

ATTACHING YOUR BORDER TO THE SIDES OF YOUR QUILT TOP

Layout your quilt top so it is nice and smooth

Starting with one side of your quilt, find the middle of your quilt top

Take your border strip, fold in half and finger press the fold

Place your finger pressed marker in line with the centre of your quilt top, lining up the edges of the fabric, pin

Smooth out your border strip and pin at both ends of your quilt top

Pin along the edge

Sew Repeat for the other side of your quilt top

MAKE & ATTACH TOP AND BOTTOM BORDERS

Repeat this process for the top and bottom borders

BASTE YOUR QUILT

Please refer to Your First Quilt Week 3 for notes on preparing your quilt for basting and how to baste your quilt

You may need to make your backing bigger depending on the size of your quilt, so just follow the same instructions with the measurements of your quilt


COMING UP IN WEEK 5 – QUILTING YOUR RAIL FENCE QUILT

TASK

Quilting your rail fence quilt

TOOLS NEEDED

Quilting basting pins, scissors, painters/masking tape, sewing machine, walking foot

SUPPLIES NEEDED

Your basted quilt, thread


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