Not so Top Secret Project Two Part 4

Whoo hoo - are you getting excited?

First step - Lay your quilt out and place a straight edge ruler along it. I trimmed those little flanges off so I had a straight line to apply the borders.
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Second:
Measure the top. I measure thru the center and on both edges. Then I take an average of the three to get a length. I have been told that this will help you square up the quilt. But I have to be honest too... not many of my quilts come up *perfectly* square.
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My Top measured 44 x 59.

I then went back to my 2 1/2 inch scrap bin and chose a creamy print to make a 2 1/2 inch stop border. I made 2 strips 2 1/2 in x 44 inches long. Applyed them and ironed. Then I measured the next direction. Mine was 64 inches long.


I made 2 2 1/2 inch by 64 inch strips and applyed those. I ironed again.I ended up using a pretty busy cream print. But I like it!









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Now for the border choices. When I first drew this up I put solid borders on the quilt. But when I looked at my strip bin, I thought - wow - if I use those for a strippy border I wonder if I could empty the bin? So I did - and you may not like how it looks. You may wish to do a solid border. Either way - the quilt will be a perfect Quilt of Valor size.
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Option One: A Solid Border. You will need Approximately 1 1/2 yards of fabric. You will measure the top again. Mine measures 48 x 64.
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Cut 5 1/2 inch strips the width of the fabric and make 2 48 inch long borders. Apply those and remeasure. It should measure about 74 inches. Cut more 5 1/2 inch strips to make 2 74 inch long borders and apply. Your top is done! It should measure around 58 x 74!


Option Two: A Pieced Border:
I started grabbing 2 1/2 inch strips and sewing them together in sets of five. You can sew them in any amount of sets, 5 seemed to work well.
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After I ironed the sets, I then took them to the cutting board and cut them 5 1/2 inches wide. For the Top Border my strip set ended up being 23 strips long. So I sewed enough sets together to make a long border of 23 strips. I then applyed it to the top and ironed it.
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Remember - I am not always the best sew - er so I had a little overhang... this is where rulers become my best friend. I just trimmed it up to square again! I did the same thing for the Bottom Border.

After the top and bottom borders were done I re- measured the top - it was 74 inches long. So I made 2 Strip sets. Mine ended up being 35 strips long. Then I applyed those, ironed and trimmed it up. And here is the final picture of the quilt top.

I still have a few strips left - but my bin is getting low on 2 1/2 inch strips. And the cool thing to me is that other that the setting triangles this quilt is really a "free" quilt so far. All the strips came from trimmings of other quilts, or left overs of other projects.

My top was 58 x 74 when finished. I will be back with the backing preparations and more info for you. So don't stop now ;-)