Smart and Magical

Tips and inspiration for your quilting journey

You know those cutting instructions at the beginning of a pattern where they list the border lengths?

There's a reason you might want to wait until you've pieced the rest of the quilt before cutting those border pieces...

In this new video, I use two quilt tops to show you why measuring your actual quilt center matters more than following the pattern measurements. Seeing the two tops side by side really illustrates what happens when border measurements don't match your pieced center.

Those tiny variations in our quarter-inch seams - even just a thread or two off - add up across an entire quilt top. By the time we've sewn all our blocks together, our center piece might be a different size than what the pattern expected.

Check out the video to see exactly where to measure your quilt center (and why measuring at the edges isn't the best idea).

Let me know if this helps you understand borders in a new way.

Happy sewing! ;)

P.S. If you've ever had a quilt that wouldn't hang straight on your wall, this video explains why - and how to prevent it next time.

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