Tessellation Tutorial - Preparing Border Fabric - Lesson 10

1. Choose a fabric for your border.
This should be a fabric that sets off the fabrics you have used for your tessellated shapes. Generally it should be a fabric that is not busy and doesn't have too many colors.(This is the fabric I chose.)



2. Cut this the same size as your fleece base.
3. Fuse Wonder Under to the entire back of this fabric.



4. Place border fabric paper side up on a flat surface.

5. Place tesselated shape/fleece piece fleece side up on top of it.

6. Fold back fleece on each side to expose the tesssellated shapes that still have the backing attached to them.



7. Trace around each shape on both sides of the composition.



8. Fold top and bottom to expose those shapes and trace them as you did the ones on the sides.



9. Remove the fleece with the tesselated shapes and this is what the paper on the back of your border fabric will look like. (Of course your tessellated shape will be different than mine so yours will not be an exact replica of mine.)

STOP NOW and wait for Lesson 11.

Tessellation Tutorial - Lesson 9

Once you have ALL your tessellated pieces arranged on the fleece it is time to fuse them down.

STOP*****
Read and study these photos before you fuse them to the fleece as the shapes along the edge will be handled differently than the ones in the middle.


You will only remove the Wonder Under's paper backing in the area bound by the black square.



Draw lines from the corner to corner on the back of the shapes that are on the edge of the tessellated design section.

I have turned back some of the edge pieces so you can see where I drew the lines.
For a larger picture just click on this picture.



You can now fuse all the center tessellated shapes to the fleece. Those that still have the paper on the back will not stick to the fleece.

Leave the paper on the back of those until I tell you to remove it.

Quilts Awaiting Borders

Some quilts do not need borders.
Some quilts are not complete until they have one or more borders.
The quilts I am showing you on this post will all be improved with the addition of borders.



This Amish inspired double nine patch will need a substantial border in keeping with the Amish inspiration. I may use one wide border or I may use a narrow border and then a wider border.
How will I decide what to do?
I will pin the quilt to my design wall and audition various colors and widths until I am satisfied with the combination.
I know many people, particularly beginning quilters would prefer to have rules. They would like to be told a quilt of a certain size needs a certain size borders. That could work in certain instances. Generally the fabrics and colors affect the decision and trial and error and careful observation result in more successful quilts.



A monochromatic quilt like this can make the decision on what to add for borders more challenging. I have a feeling I will be adding a very small amount of a color in the border. Again, I won't be making this decision until the quilt is on the wall.

The two previous quilts are a good example of why you need a fabric collection or palette if you want to make quilts that work.
I suppose you could take the quilt to a quilt shop and select fabric for a border, but I find it easier and more convenient having a palette of fabrics on hand to audition for my borders. I am then able to stand back and really look at what is happening and don't have to make the decision in haste.



This quilt will eventually be king size. I think I will be adding a medium width black and white border, a pieced patchwork border using many of the same fabrics in the quilt and a wider black and white border to finish it off.

This was a scrap quilt and I had so much fun piecing it.

When I finish a project and have less than 6 inches of fabric left I usually cut strips from the remaining fabric and have a ready supply of strips when I want to do something like this. I have made several quilts from the strip I have cut this way.

If you have never done one of my puzzles you may enjoy this one. It is easy and yet challenging.