The inner border is 4 sets of mitered seams. To do this, choose 4 of your 2 1/2" x WOF strips. (You can choose any colors you like, I just picked the ones to match the original ;) Be sure and trim the selvages from your strips before starting. On the wrong side of the 4 strips, mark a dot at 2 1/2" in from the edge of the strip. Then draw a line from the top corner to the dot.
Now you are ready to stitch your mitered seam. Place a Marked strip onto a strip (again, you can choose any colors) with right sides together and with the strips at 90 degrees as shown. Pin the strips together at 90 degrees and then stitch directly on the drawn line. Repeat this for all 4 strip sets.
Now trip a 1/4" away from the seam line and press the seam to one side. It doesn't matter which ;) You will now have 4 mitered strip sets.
And it is time to add them to the quilt center. Layout your 4 strip sets on either side of the quilt center as shown. Obviously, these are larger than the quilt center, but no worries. We are going to center them first and then trim the excess before we stitch.
So to center the first two side strips, fold the quilt center in half as shown. Mark the center points with a pin. Then open your quilt center again.
Place your side inner borders onto the quilt center with right sides together. Align the center of the Inner Border seam with the Marking pin on your Quilt center. Pin the center in place on both inner side borders.
Then align the rest of the 2 inner borders with the side of the quilt top and pin in place. Trim the excess on the ends of the border. I find the easiest way to trim is to simply flip the corner of the top over, align with the edge of the quilt and trim (shown on bottom left corner.) Once you are all pinned, stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge of both inner side borders.
Press the seams outwards towards the inner borders. Now we will repeat the same process for the top and bottom inner borders.
Find the center of the Top and Bottom of the quilt top. Align and pin the top and bottom inner border's with the center and then the rest of the border. Trim the excess on the edges. Stitch a 1/4" seam on the top and bottom of the quilt top.
And once again, press the seams outwards towards the inner borders. Your quilt top should measure appx. 72 1/2" x 74 1/2" unfinished. Now go ahead and set your quilt top aside for a minute so we can move on to piecing the outer borders.
The Outer Border
FLYING GEESE UNITS
We start the outer border by making some Flying Geese. We made Flying Geese Units back in Month 5 so this will be a snap ;) Start by gathering your Outer Border pieces. We will be making 2 sets of Flying Geese in each color, one with a White Goose and one with a Colored Goose. We will make 8 sets of each in the blue, yellow, and purple, and 16 sets of each in the red. Note, this means you will have 16 red, 8, purple, 8 yellow, and 8 blue 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles that you will not be using for flying geese ;)
On the wrong side of all the 2 1/2" squares mark a diagonal line. For the rest of this, I will be showing the process on two flying geese units, the right side is the Colored Goose and the left side is the White Goose. But you will want to chain stitch all 80 Flying Geese units for each step of the process as it will save you a lot of time ;)
Place a marked square onto the left side of the rectangle with right sides together as shown. Stitch on the drawn line. Trim a 1/4" away from the seam line. Press the seam upwards towards the small triangle.
Now repeat for the right side. Place a marked square onto the right side of the rectangle with RST as shown. Stich on the drawn line. Trim a 1/4" away and press upwards towards the small triangle.
With your chain stitching, you should now have 80 Flying Geese each measuring 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" unfinished with the total number of each layout as shown below. I don't trim my geese, but if you decide to trim them exactly to 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" be sure that you leave a 1/4" seam allowance on the top and that your side corners point.
ARROW BLOCKS
Now it is time to sew the Flying Geese Units into Arrow Blocks. Here you can grab those colored 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles that were set aside. And again, I will show the process with one, but you will want to chain stitch all 40 of your Arrow Blocks to save time.
Layout the following three units in the same color: a Colored Goose Flying Geese Unit, a 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" Rectangle and a White Goose Flying Geese Unit as shown. Place the Top unit onto the center with right sides together. Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge. Then place the Bottom unit onto the center with right sides together. Stitch a 1/4" seam along the edge, and be sure to stitch directly through the center of the Thread X to get a perfect point. Press the seams inwards towards the 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle.
With your chain stitching, you should now have 40 Arrow Blocks each measuring 6 1/2" x 4 1/2" unfinished with the total number of each layout as shown below. Again, if you decide to trim, be sure and leave your seam allowances and corner points.
PIECING THE OUTER BORDERS
Now it is time to start piecing the outer borders into rows. Place 5 Arrow Blocks in the following color order in a row. Layout 8 sets just like this and chain stitch all 8 sets. Place the second Block onto the first Block with right sides together. Sew a 1/4" seam along the edge. Then place the third Block onto the first/second Block with right sides together. Sew a 1/4" seam along the edge. Continue in this fashion until you have sewn all 5 blocks into a row.
And a little helpful hint, if you flip your blocks over when you take them to the sewing machine, you can see the thread X and sewing directly through the center of it will give you your perfect points ;)
Once you have all 8 rows sewn together, press the seam allowances open.
Now all that is left is to add in your White squares and rectangles. Layout your 8 Arrow Rows with the White squares and rectangles as shown below. The side borders have the larger rectangles in the centers and the the top and bottom borders have the squares on the ends.
Sew the pieces into the 4 border rows. Press the seam allowances towards the white squares and rectangles. And now you are ready to add the Outer Border to your quilt top!!!
ADDING THE OUTER BORDERS TO THE QUILT CENTER
This is just like adding the inner border, but on a larger scale. Layout your 4 Outer Borders as shown below.
Place the 2 side borders onto the sides of the quilt top center with right sides together. Align and pin the sides. Stitch a 1/4" seam along the pinned edges. And note, when stitching the seam, if you sew directly at the bottom of the Fabric V's on all your flying geese units, you will get nice perfect points.
Press the two outer side borders inwards towards the inner borders. Now just repeat for the top and bottom outer borders. Place the top and bottom outer borders onto the top and bottom of the quilt top center with right sides together. Align and pin and then stitch a 1/4" seam (catching the Fabric V's) along the pinned edges. Press the seams inwards towards the inner border.
And your Quilt Top is complete!!! Isn't it just gorgeous!!! It should measure appx. 80 1/2" x 82 1/2"
Great job!!! Isn't this just so exciting!!!!! A year of stitching together and what an amazing finish to show for it!!!! All that is left now is to Baste it, Quilt It, and Bind it ;) If you are new to quilting, I have some
Video Tutorials here that can help you with finishing up your quilt!!!
