Let's Talk Creative Borders

Sometimes you just don't have enough of one fabric to use for the border. But, you may have two pieces that are very "friendly" with each other. Maybe they're from the same collection, so the greens or reds or browns MATCH! Such is the case with many of the quilts I've been sewing lately. Look at this one from 2020. 

Sunshine in My Garden using a block from my Katie's Garden quilt

The two greens in the borders are from the same fabric collection, but the prints are different. The top and bottom are kitties and the sides are chickens. I think they're getting along!

Then there are the quilts that I make from sets of fat quarters. The longest piece for a border I can get will be 22" - hardly enough for most any quilt. BUT . . . you can piece a border, right? That's what I did with this Birdsong quilt, recently gifted to a friend whose husband suddenly died. Forget the flowers - a quilt lasts a long time and reminds my friend of my love and prayers for her.

Eternal flowers captured in fabric for this comforting quilt

How about the Woven Ribbon Star quilt I made several years ago, but I only had a 6" strip of four different orange prints. Well, it worked. Look closely and you'll see four DIFFERENT prints. Doesn't bother me a bit!

Woven Ribbon Star with 4 different border prints. 24" center block

I pieced my borders in the Foxwood Forest Animals quilt - again, because I only had fat quarters to work with!

Foxwood Forest Animals: 40" x 40"

And one more interesting take on borders with my Ezekiel's Crown quilt (which I'm teaching mid October at the Peninsula Piecemaker's Quilt Guild in Newport News, VA). I used a positive/negative approach with the light and dark dotted fabrics.

Ezekiel's Crown quilt: 40" x 40"

I honestly couldn't figure out what single piece of border fabric would work, so I decided to get creative with the two prints. I really like it; how about you?

I'll be back with some more creative borders. In the meantime, take a look at your own quilts in process and see if you might do something similar. I think you'll like it!