Fifer’s Web site — on the Web since 1995!

Creating Border Templates

Learning to Quilt
Pre-washing Fabrics
Basting Layers Together
CAD Freeware/Shareware for Quilting
Standard Bed Sizes
Standard Pillow Sizes

Designing a Border Template

Is your quilt rectangular or square? If it's not square, you need to do steps 1-3 for each side.

1. Measure the length of the "box" you're trying to fill.

Figure 1.

2. Measure the width of the "box" you're trying to fill.

Figure 2.

3. Subtract the width from the length.

    length - width = X
Ex:   86"  -   6"  = 80"

This will be the area divided equally for templates.

Figure 3.

4. Divide the number obtained in step 3 into equal segments.

If your quilt is rectangular, find common denominators that will divide both numbers obtained in step 3 evenly.

Square Quilt Example:

80" (step 3 example) can be divided by 8" or 10" nicely. (It could also be divided by 4" or 5", but anything less than the width (step 2) is probably too small for a border pattern.)

Rectangular Quilt Example:

One border was calculated in Step 3 at 80", the other border was calculated at Step 3 at 60" - so you're limited to 10", 5", or 4" - like I said above, anything less than the width is probably too small. So we'll go with the 10".

Figure 4.

5. Subtract 1/2" to 1" (your choice) from your width (step 2).

This will be the width of your template. The length you obtained in step 4 is the length of your template from center to center.

Figure 5.

5. Subtract 1/2" to 1" (your choice) from your width (step 2).

This will be the width of your template. The length you obtained in step 4 is the length of your template from center to center.

Figure 5.

6. Divide the width (step 5) in half, and measure this amount in from the ends, and mark a vertical line.

This will be where the cross/corner pieces stop.

Figure 6.