As quilt designers, we’re really lucky as we get to see a lot of fabric and Robert Kaufman is always wonderful about giving us enough to experiment and play with.  Our motto has become “send us your directional, grand scale, circular medallions, spooky or odd” as creatively speaking this kind of fabric is the most fun to work with, you’ve got to crack some eggs to make an omelet and we love to cook!     Some designers can spin scraps into something magical, we’re the opposite and try to seek out prints and fabrics that will work well as a major design element of the quilt.  As a result the fabrics themselves end up doing a lot of the heavy lifting so the quilter doesn’t have to.

We check the fabric collections under development on the Kaufman website site at least once a month and fell in love with the Fan and Iris print from Grandeur as soon as they loaded on the screen.  That was in December of 2009.  We diligently stalked our fabric fairy at Kaufman until the fabric finally arrived in the studio early this spring.  It was worth the wait and we dropped everything to start egg cracking the minute we opened the box.  Working with these kinds of prints is a ton of fun and definitely one of our favorite types of projects.    Sometimes they can be challenging, but they never fail to get the creative juices flowing and always produce an amazing results like our recipe for easy, fancy, beautiful borders.

Recipe
(click here to download a print friendly version of recipe)

• 1 Bloomington Pattern or Kit by Toadusew
• Grandeur fabric from Robert Kaufman
• Basic quilting skills and supplies
• A weekend or two depending on the size of quilt

After your quilt center is sewn iron the fancy fan border print to insure it is completely free of wrinkles and creases and study the fabric so you understand the repeat of the print.  Open the fabric to its full width on a large work space or cutting surface.  Doing this in an area where you can work and see the entire piece of fabric makes the task easier and faster. Once you’ve identified where the repeat starts, clearly mark the same starting point of the repeat along the selvage edge.   It’s important that all the marks be made at the same point in the repeat on both selvage edges to insure the patterns will match when the strips are sewn together. Mark the same point along the center repeat as well.

Using a ruler, draw a line across the fabric connecting the three marks.  When all the lines have been marked, carefully cut the fabric into repeat segments along the marked lines.  If you are making the Lap size Bloomington Quilt: Cut 4 repeat segments.  If you are making the Queen Size Bloomington: Cut 6 repeat segments  Quilters making other sized quilts based on other patterns may need to adjust accordingly;  do this by calculating the number of 40″/42″ lengths of cut fan border segments required to surround the size of the quilt being made.

Fold  the selvage ends under and match the ends of two segments together.  Adjust the location of the fold until you are satisfied with the pattern match between the two ends.  Finger press a crease to mark the fold.   Using a ruler and pencil, mark a line along the fold on the wrong side of the fabric.   Trim away the excess material to a ¼” from the marked line.

Sew the ends together along the marked line and press the seam open to reduce bulk.  Repeat these steps, as needed, based on your size quilt.  If you are making the Lap Size Bloomington: Make 4 borders (2 segments each).  If you are making the Queen Size Bloomington: Make 4 borders (3 segments each) Quilters making other sized quilts based on other patterns may need to adjust accordingly; do this by calculating the number of 40″/42″ lengths of cut fan border segments required to surround the size of the quilt being made.

Once all the segments are joined into strips, carefully cut them in half as illustrated.    Each half will give a distinctly different repeat (A & B).

Fold each finished border strip in half and press a crease at the center point.  Fold and press a crease into the center of the sides, top and bottom of the quilt top.  Beginning with the left side, match and pin the center points of the border and quilt together.  Use additional pins to ease and hold the the pieces together as needed.    Sew the border to the quilt, trim the ends and press to the least amount of bulk.  Sew the remaining side, followed by the top and bottom in the same fashion.  

To achieve the same look as shown on the Bloomington Pattern Cover use repeat B, on the sides and repeat A on the top & bottom with all the fans facing “in” toward the center of the quilt.

We hope this inspires you to try some new and creative things with fabrics you might not normally consider using.   Be sure to check out the October issue of Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine for to see another wonderful Robert Kaufman Fabric doing some serious work in “Eclipse” a new Toadusew design.

Click here to download a handy reference  print friendly reference copy of this article.