Stitching, Cyphering and Sewing...

I decided on the border fabric for my Jelly Roll Jam II quilt.

After I attach this, I'll be adding the tan/ivory piano keys, but first things first.

I had to figure out how much fabric to cut for those borders.

Do you know how to calculate how much fabric is needed?

Do you want to know? (If not, you can skip the rest of this post and wait

for a picture of the finished top - or even the finished quilt - on Monday.)

My actual calculation. I'll still round up to 6 strips.

If you're still reading, you'd like to know how to calculate how much fabric you need for the border. Here's your answer...

1) measure the length of your quilt, down the center of the quilt

2) measure the width of your quilt, again down the center of the quilt 

(Why down the middle, you ask? Pulling the edges could distort the fabric and skew the numbers.)

3) Double both of those numbers and add them together. (length x 2, plus width x 2 = total number of border inches)

4) Add 10" for creating the mitered corners and joining binding ends.

5) Divide that number by 40 (40 is the likely number of inches in the full width of the fabric, after removing - and saving - the selvage.)

The resulting number is the number of strips you need to cut to have enough to border your fabric.

Example: Your quilt measures 64" long x 48" wide

64" x 2 = 128

+48" x 2 = 96

 224 + 10 = 234

   divided by 40

= 5.85

I round that number UP and cut 6 strips of fabric my desired width.

 

If you want 6" strips, multiple 6 x 6 and you will need 36" (or 1 yard) of fabric.

In my case, I'm going to cut 3" strips (3 x 6 = 18"), so I only need a half yard of fabric to do my borders. 

 

So, I'm going to attach my first border and then measure and cut my piano keys to add outside the red border. In case you're wondering, my self-imposed deadline to finish the Strawberries s mid-month, October. When I take breaks from the stitching, I can fill in my time with sewing. Lucky me!!!