Have you ever been looking for the secret to making perfect minor corners on your porters? Whether you’re working on quilt block or an entire quilt, minor corner can be really easy. Hi, this is Penny Halgren from HowtoQuilt.com.
Today I’m going to do a demonstration showing you exactly how to sew minor corners on borders as you add them to your quilt block or your entire quilt. The first stop is the cutting table. So let’s get started.
This is the block the I’m going to be working with and I decided that I want it to add a border that was going to be about one-inch wide and I’ve cut a border strip here that’s one and a half inches wide, so that will take into a count at a same allowance. So the next thing I want to do is measure this block and this is the actual size the block and it’s about 11½ inches. So I’m going to need border strips that are going to be 11½ inches long plus the width of my unfinished size border on the top and the bottom. So I need four strips that are at least 14½ inches long and I’m partly going to cut down of little bit longer than 14½ inches or probably cut them about 16 inches just to make sure that I have enough.
Now I cut my four border strips cut and these are each 16 inches long. The next thing I want to do is find the center of the strips. And the reason I’m going to that is because I want to add my border strips so that I make sure that I’m squaring up the block. And what that means is I’m going to measure on my border strips exactly the width to the block and the height of the block and pin that on the strips so that I’m not doing any stretching as I’m adding this border strips.
Now that my border strips are marked, I’ve got the center and each one of the sides, I’m just going to take one of this and pin it to the side of my block. Now what I’m going to need to do is find the center of my block. So I’m going to do that by folding this over and just finger press the center I’m going to open that up and I can see the crease and then I’ll lay my strip down on top of it. The yellow line is going to mark the edge to this border or is going to mark the edge of a block and what I want to do is stop my stitching at quarter of an inch in from that and I’ll do the same thing on the other side.
Now I’m going to turn my block around. I’m going to move this out of the way and then I’m going to do the same thing with my second quarter strip. I like to work with just two sides at a time so I’m going to take this over to my sewing machine and so this two onto the block. As I saw this on, what I want to do is make that I start a quarter of an inch away from the edge of my block or the edge to your quilt top. I usually do not backstitch but I do a couple of stitches in place just so the stitching doesn’t come out and then I’ll just stitch all the way down the side here using your quarter of an inch and I’ll stop when I get to a quarter of an inch away from the edge of the block from the bottom side.
So I'm just going to open this up and then I’m going to start stitching a quarter of an inch away from that edge of the block here which actually is going to be where this is folded. I’ll take a couple of stitches in place and then so all the way down the second side of this block stopping a quarter of an inch away from that edge of the block. And now I’m going to open this up.
Now I need to mark my stitching line from this corner down to the edge of the border and I need to be sewing in a 45-degree angle. The first thing I want to do is line up my edges that are extending beyond the block and the easiest way to make that everything is stilly lying up and flat and you’re going to get both sides even is to fold the block in half of the quilt in half so that the right side is facing out and that you’ve got your edges of you quilt top or block extending down this side. You need to have a ruler that has 45-degree angle line on it. So what I’ll do is line up my 45-degree angle on my ruler with the edge of the border and put the edge of the ruler right there at the end of my stitching and then take my marker and draw line.
Now that I have my mark is I’m going to take a pin. I actually I’m going to take two pins and put those in and then I’m going to stitch this close. Now where I’m going to start is where my stitching end this so I’m going to put my sewing machine needle right in there and then stretch on the right side of that line. Before I trim all of this off, I’m going to add the rest of the borders and press it. And once I have it press then I’ll trim this edge off at the quarter of an inch seam allowance.
Now I’m ready to iron the lighter corners. You know I'm going to just start with one corner here and fold it open and then press it down. So I’m going to fold that down that way and then I’m going to press it. And this time I’m going to press into the corner. Now that I have all the sides press and the corners are all flat and they looked pretty good. I’m ready to trim the excess off of each one in these corners. So I’m just going to take my scissors and then trim it with my scissors. And once I’ve done then I’ll re-press that corner just to make sure that it is flat and trim this a little triangle tip off.
Our item with brown block now has a border on it with minor corners. Whether you’re adding borders to a large quilt or small block and you want a minor the corners the process is still the same. I hope this is been instructional and helpful for you. Thanks for joining me this is Penny Halgren from HowtoQuilt.com signing off. Happy quilting.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services