Sew a Mitered Border on a Quilt

Many quilts have borders as part of their design. Next time you have a quilt that calls for a border, consider adding a mitered border. Colleen Tauke shows you step by step how to add a mitered border to a small quilt sample.

How to Sew a Mitered Border on a Quilt

Colleen begins by showing examples of quilts that have been completed with a mitered border. She then talks about some of the different cotton fabric prints that lend themselves well to a mitered border design. She goes through several different fabric prints and explains why they either will or will not work as a mitered border on a quilt.

Once you have selected your fabric for a mitered border, Colleen shows you how to measure for and cut the border strips. Because of how they are constructed, fabric strips for mitered borders need to be cut much longer than fabric strips for traditional borders. Colleen then shows how to sew the border strips onto all four sides of the quilt, explaining where you need to start and stop stitching.

She then shows how to attach the border strips to each other to create the miter in each corner. If the fabric you are using has a design or print that needs to line up as it goes around the corner, Colleen explains how to do that as well. Colleen then shows how to check to ensure that your mitered quilt borders looks the way they are supposed to and lay flat when pressed, then shows how to trim away the excess fabric.

Once you’ve watched this tutorial, check out others for more on mitered borders. Also, traditional and mitered borders aren’t the only options when it comes to finishing off your quilts—check out other fun quilt border ideas.