Mitered Corners Tutorial

Just for YOU, Dianne!

To make mitered corners on a border of a quilt, follow these steps:

1)  Normally, when you cut border fabric for your quilt, you measure the width of the quilt and cut a strip to that measurement.  However, if you are going to add a mitered corner, you need the border strip to be longer than the quilt.  Extend the border piece past the edge of the quilt by at least twice what the width of the border is. Do this for BOTH ends because you will be mitering a corner on each end. So if you have a 60 inch quilt side, you would need @ a 72" border strip. (6" for the miter on the left + 60" for the width of the quilt + 6 for the miter corner on the right.)  My border piece is 2.5" wide, and the "tail" is 8 inches.

Sew on the border as usual, right sides together, top of the border  aligned with the top of the quilt.  Don't start sewing at the edge like usual though.  Put a pin at the top at 1/4" from the edge.  When you lay your border strip across your quilt, with the extra sticking off for the miter, you will know where to start sewing. Start sewing 1/4" in from the side, at your pin. Sew a few stitches, then back-stitch to secure the seam, then continue sewing the border until you get near the other side.  Stop sewing before you get to the end, about a quarter inch from the edge. I mark this point with a pin too so I don't forget to stop before I get to the edge.  You don't want to sew right off the edge like usual. And, if the quilt strip is on top, you can't see the edge of the quilt!  So, use a pin!  In the picture above,  you can see the pin that marks the quarter inch where I need to stop sewing in the picture.  BACKSTICH both the starting point and the end to secure the seams.

2)  Sew your second border in the same way, starting and stopping a quarter inch from the side edges, backstitching to secure the seams.  It will look something like what you see on the left--the borders should almost touch when you fold the tails back at 45 degree angles. You can sew a few extra stitches if necessary to get them closer, or tear out a few if they are sewed together.  You want to see a tiny space between them.

3) Press your stitching line to set the seams, then fold your border up and iron it, continue ironing the quarter inch seam allowance on the tails as well.  This will be helpful later on.

Now that your borders are sewed on, we can start the miter.

4)  Fold the quilt diagonally, right sides together.   Make sure that your two borders are matched along the top.  I put in a couple pins up there to hold it.  You want your corner block to be folded at a 45 degree angle.  You can use the markings on your mat or ruler to get an accurate fold.
(Here you can see that I have paper-pieced part of my quilt.  Pay no-nevermind to that!  It is not relevant to the process of mitering corners! Paper piecing is another lesson for another day...!)

5)  Lay your long ruler against the fold, extending that 45 degree angle across your border.  Draw a line against your ruler on the border fabric at that 45 degree angle.  This will be your sewing line.

 

  

6)  Now put pins on both sides of the line, around 3/4 inch from the line.  (This is where you'll find it helpful that you have previously ironed that seam allowance on your tail.)  These pins will hold everything together while you sew.  

7)  Take it to your sewing machine and sew that mitered line you just drew!  You're almost done!

8)  Open it up and take a peek!  Hopefully it'll look wonderful and you won't have to make any "adjustments!"

9)  Cut the tails off around quarter inch from the sewing line.  I like to leave it a little wider, but that's just a personal preference.  Quarter inch is standard.

10)  Press the seam open.  Snip off any "ears" of the seam allowance that stick out.

ALL DONE!

I hope this was helpful.

(Wow!  I hope ALL my corners turn out this gorgeous!!  I didn't plan that corner at all! The pattern looks so round, and the X's sort of flow right into each other!)