Howdy!

First I square up the quilt top, then I measure for the borders
(if any), kinda' like this at the bottom half of the page:
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/Dumm...e/id-1791.html

Then I square it up again.
To help it Finish as a "squared" quilted quilt, I pin baste,
a lot, closely, carefully. Lots of basting, I don't want this thing
shifting. Baste, baste, baste.
I quilt from the center towards the outer edges in a spiral.
When I get to the borders I try to be very careful to
not stretch that part of the quilt when adjusting the quilt hoop
(I hand quilt); if I'm being extra careful I add an extra (wide) border
to the real border so my hoop hangs onto that extra fabric,
less stress & stretching on the quilt body.
After the quilting (& removing that extra wide border strip)
I sew a line all the way around the quilt to lock in my quilting stitches.
Kinda' like this, except I use the regular machine foot:
http://www.quiltuniversity.com/squaring_up.htm
Then I square it up again, just like this lesson at Qlt. Univ., sliding
a long ruler along the edge, with the table supporting the quilt body
so it doesn't stretch or pull off true.
I make plenty of binding, not measuring it too closely to the
quilt because I've already squared up the quilt before the binding
stage. As I sew on the binding I keep it a tiny bit tight, just to make
sure the quilt sandwich stays the same size/dimension, squared up.
This is what works for me. YMMV

It's that basting to keep the quilting even that makes a big difference
for me to have a "squared up" Finished quilt.

Good luck!

R/Sandy-- watching it try to rain, again, in n.Tx. -- glub-glub

On 7/5/07 5:20 PM, in article
, "MaleQuilter"
wrote:

On Jul 5, Kate in MI said, "How do you add borders? Chop off a
piece... sew it on... then trim to fit?
Sure hope NOT! "

I sounds worse when you say it that way. (LOL)

I thought that if I cut my borders "over length" that I would have
extra in case sewing it on changed its length. I was careful to make
sure that opposite sides of the quilt center were the same length
before I started, and tried to sew the binding on with about the same
level of tension (making sure I did not stretch the fabric as I sewed
the binding on).

It sounds like that was all wrong.

Are you saying that I should cut the binding the average length based
on three or four measurements, match the ends of the binding to each
end of the quilt side, and then stretch or ease the quilt center or
binding evenly over the distance between the matching ends?

I know that was a long question. It's amazing the number of things
you do not know when you are a real beginner.

Jerry in North Alabama
http://community.webshots.com/user/MaleQuilter