How To Create A Scalloped Border For Your Quilt

In my last blog post I shared my most recent mosaic quilt, "Whitney Lake".  If you missed it, you can find it HERE.

I like using a scalloped border, whether it is the inner, outer or edge.  

It really makes a plain border, very elegant and special.

I used it on my quilt, "South of France", as the inner border:

and on my first large mosaic quilt," Keyfetti Fish", created while wintering in Key West. This border is scalloped and a facing was used to finish the edge. (It was photographed on a black background.)

35" x 48"

I have used a few diffferent methods to create a scalloped border for a quilt.  The key to them all is, Curvalicious.It's a cutting guide I developed about 5 years ago.  I designed it to make curved looking quilts, but I found out that I could use it for amazing and complex looking borders.

It measures 24" long.  The Curvalicious website shares lots of ways to use it as well as a link to my YouTube video demoing it as a border tool.

When the quilt's dimensions are divisble by 6, a mitered border might be the best method to use.  Otherwise, the method I used for Whitney Lake works well and is pretty simple.

First, I added a 4" border all the way around the quilt.

 After quilting the border, scallop the border using Curvalicious and a 28mm rotary cutter.

 It is a bit of a challenge to cut through all the layers, but it's so worth it. Sometimes you need a little scissors help. To achieve balanced corners, make sure you stop about 6" from the edge.

Using tracing paper or parchment paper, or any paper  you can see  through, create a curved corner.  I fold  the paper in half to make sure it's symmetrical. I use that template to trim each corner.

Then I made a 2" strip of bias binding.  After stitching it to the front with 1/4" seam allowance, I turned it to the back and with the help of wonder clips, I handstitched it to the back.

And Voila!

A border that really frames a quilt.

My Newest Mosaic Art Quilt

40" x 50"

I have fnished my newest mosaic quilt. I could have named it many things, but I've decided to keep it simple and call it Whitney Lake.  We have had a vacation home on Whitney Lake in Hawley, PA for 30 years.  There is so much Lynch  history there.  While our boys were growing up we spent a good part of the summers there.  There was swimming and fishing and blueberry picking.  There were video games on the rainy days and  a gang of boys that hung together and sometimes got into a little mischief. We spent Thanksgiving there and President's weekend ice fishing on the frozen lake.  I have wonderful memories of quilt retreats with girlfriends and students.  There was a little lull in our visits as the boys got interested in sports and headed off to college.  Fortunately, they both dated girls who loved it there too and both of them  married those girls lakeside. So it's a place with lots of memories.

I started the quilt 2 years ago using lots of photos to "stitch" together and construct the scene and thought often about those two empty chairs on our dock.  It has been a long road.  There was a 1 year hiatus where I just couldn't work on it.  Then when I finally returned to working on it I  had some issues with the lake water and contrast.  (Oh contrast, my nemesis!)
Here's an overview:

First the left side and then the right.

And now it's done, and it feels good!

I did debate wether to use a Curvalicious border since all of my mosaic art quilts include it for the border. So I scallopped the border this time and it's just perfect. My next post will have details of the  quilting and borders. You can purchase Curvalicious HERE and watch how to use Curvalicious to create an amazing border HERE:

"Whitney Lake"has now entered the inner circle of my most favorite quilts.
And what would a special quilt be without a special label.

It's a great time to finish a special quilt.

It's Monday

I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve my communication with people who are interested in what I do and to grow my audience.  Recently, I was reading an article about how to have an unsuccessful blog.  Who would want to spend all that time writing a blog post, thinking about interesting content and moving the photos into the right spot for uploading if they wanted to be unsuccessful? It sounds silly, but I guess the title was to grab your attention, and it grabbed mine.  I felt pretty good reading the article.  The tip that would make me an unsuccessful blogger is that my posts are erratic.

The other day, this message was brought home to me.  My husband is not really into much soial media, but the other day hes mentioned that he was looking forward to someone's blog that he reads every Friday.  That surprised me, but it showed me that people do indeed look for certain blog posts on certain days of the week.

So starting with this post, I am committing to blog every Monday, thus the name "It's Monday".  Now that I have a monthly newsletter and post frequently on Instagram, a weekly post seems just the right frequency to blog.

This is my quilt that I created with a new line of fabric from Riley Blake, designed by Betz White called Juxtaposey.  The llamas caught my eye, and I have a certain DIL that loves llamas.  I named the quilt " Llama Kisses" and I constructed it with Curvalicious both to make the blocks and to create the scalloped border.

I started out with a plan to make a 9 patch.

I wasn't happy with how it looked so I eliminated a bunch of blocks and made it into a 4 patch.

It looked a little plain to me.  Curvalicious to the rescue to create a scalloped border.  I find that it's easier to attach  the binding to the border after it is quilted and before trimming.  

The first step is to mark the border.  Any pen will work because it will end up being the cutting line.  I  like to use one that I can see easily.  

To form the corner curve, use a circular template, like a plate or plastic templates in one corner. 

Copy it onto a piece of parchment paper and use it to create identical curves in each of the other 3 corners.

Since I had a limited amount of fabric for the binding, I had to use straight grain binding, even though I would have preferred bias binding. I make double fold French binding.   I lined up the raw edges of the binding with the line I drew using Curvalicious.  The good news is that since the curve was so gentle, straight grain worked just fine.  After stitching, trim along the marked line being careful not to cut into the quilt and then turn the binding to the back and stitch it down.

I do have a video on YouTube that demonstrates using Curvalicious for binding. 

 Click this LINK to be redirected.

And I created the backing to use up the extra fabric.

 What a sweet little quilt and it looks like Spring is finally here! Check your local quilt shop for Juxtaposey and maybe you'll make Llama Kisses.

Funkytown

I have been working on this quilt for a few months. I call it "Funkytown". It's a Curvalicious design. It's so different than any other quilt I have created using Curvalicious. It's bight and whimsical and it makes me smile. The print fabrics are from an upcoming line of fabric by Tula Pink, called Tabby Road. If you look closely you can see catfood cans and cats in the prints. I'm not a big cat lover, but the colors and the graphic qualities of this line really caught my eye. It pairs so well with the solids. I bought a far quarter stack at Quilt Market. The fabric will be available soon and I've seen that some shops on line are taking pre-orders.

I finished the top before I left for Key West and sent it off to Till We Quilt Again, aka Helen Ernst, to be quilted. She did an amazing job.

When she mailed it back to me, I realized that the fabric I brought with me for binding wasn't going to work.I ended up ordering a Tula Pink fabric from a different line, called Chipper, for the binding. Everything takes longer to arrive here. We call it the end of the road and it truly is the end of Rte 1 that starts in Maine and goes all the way down the East Coast.

I finished binding it right after my son and DIL arrived. Since Key West is as colorful and exciting as my quilt, my partners in crime and I decided to have fun and photograph it at lots of locations. So enjoy some views of Key West and Funkytown.

Funkytown will be in my booth at Quiltcon that starts Feb 23rd, in Savannah, Booth #443. Please stop by and visit this well traveled quilt.

A pattern will be available soon. Sign up for my newsletter to be the first to know.

 

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