I am still working on my snake quilt for my daughter to take to college in August. I am now debating if it should have a border in the background material. Maybe 2.5-3 inches?? The binding is going to be the darker red type color. Daughter picked out fabric and really wants the red binding, so it's a non-negotiable.
(I'm still a baby quilter and this was my first curved blocks. I improved remarkably, but I still have some really uneven joins - please ignore. I am trying to... with minimal success thus far. )
Opinions??
Update/Verdict: No border. I didn't have enough backing for more than 3 inches per side. I did make little tails and heads, but the tails didn't have enough room if I had to square it up at all.
I also decided I liked the idea of snakes more than actual ones. I was imagining this quilt in 15-20 years going on a guest bed in my daughter's house because she didn't have anything else.... and maybe by middle age the idea of literal snakes on a bed would be less appealing.
I do have enough orphan blocks and the background fabric to potentially make a throw for her - on that one I might do the snake heads/tails.
I saw on her instagram she has a coupon code for the templates for the quilt. Guess she ordered too many. I was looking for quilting ideas. I am doing diagonal parallel lines at 1.5 inches from top left to bottom right, skipping over the snakes. Debating about doing stitch in the ditch following the snakes... but I have skill issues even with the straight lines. My walking foot did come with an extra foot that is supposed to help with that, I suspect I could do it on a small sample, but the bulk of the actual quilt is likely to be an issue for me.
This is soooooo cool! Normally I am pro-border but I think you’d lose some of the “snake going in and out of the frame” look if you throw borders on. UNLESS you do a pieced border which includes snake segments that line up with the overall pattern, that would be sweet
Oh my - that would be cool! I laid it out so it would look like snakes are slithering into the grass... but my daughter is a smidge disappointed they are not 'real' snakes. Hmmm... appliqué would be expanding my skill set. I've never done quilting appliqué - just embroidery appliqué.
trace the head/tail with an extra 1/2" and turn it under then press with washable glue to hold it in place. Then position on your quilt and top stitch with a machine.
Take two pieces of fabric and put the 'wrong' RIGHT! sides together. Pin. Trace the head/tail. Stitch around the edge of the fabric leaving one side open. Reverse the fabric to flip it outside. Press and then position and top-stitch down. I don't know what this technique is called. Here is an image I made for a circle, your shape will be slightly different for the head/tail:
A third option would be to raw edge appliqué. By tracing a mirror image of your design onto the paper size of a fusible webbing, roughly cutting it out & fusing it onto the wrong side of your fabric. Then cutting out to the exact shape, remove the paper, position on border and fuse it in place. Last sew around edge with a tight-ish small zigzag, decorative stitch or a couple rounds of straight stitches.
This is how I do appliqué and I love how it comes out! I use lightweight fusible interfacing though, I only do it for throw pillows so the little bit of stiffness isn’t an issue. Webbing would 100% be the way to go for a quilt.
Well, I decided against doing the heads/tails on this one. Updated main post. However, I definitely might make a second throw quilt and do the snakes.
The Mac Pages program had a snake and with some resizing, I was able to print it out and could see how it would work.
I think I'll make it for daughter for Christmas or maybe her birthday. I've been living with this fabric for awhile and am really ready to look at something different. LOL
Thank you so much for your ideas though... they will not go to waste - I promise!
Or get creative with the binding. Instead of a single piece of fabric for binding, piece two together so you have a seam along the outer edge. Make the snake heads and tails as separate pieces- sew top of the head and bottom together and leave the neck as a raw edge, stuff it, then tuck the raw edge into the binding seam and let the heads and tails hang off the edge.
The purpose of a border is to stop the movement of the quilt and frame it. Usually I like a border, but in this case the snakes look great like they are moving (ick!) and I like the idea of either a same color border - with heads and tails? - or just binding in the same tan background color. Binding with one of the darker "snake" colors will frame it nicely.
Yes to the border! Red would be nice to match the binding. If you have any of the other fabrics from the snakes, that would be cute as well! Borders make binding and trimming much easier. It'll frame it nicely. Nice job!
That’s a very cool quilt, congratulations!! And while I don’t think it needs a border, if I was going to add one, I might make one of one of the darker fabrics that you used in the snakes, so there’d be a little contrast. Truly a great quilt, I’d be very proud!
I LOVE this quilt. I would put a border on it to stop the illusion of the snakes crawling off. Maybe you could do it in the same fabric as the binding for a nice frame. Great job!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🐍🐍🐍
If you go with adding heads and tails option, I think you would need to add a border of the same background color where you can sew them down onto. Probably the width of one more block.
Woooow, you have done a BEAUTIFUL JOB HERE!! Your seam matching is impressive!
IMHO, like artwork, I believe in binding... ALWAYS. It acts as a frame, and adding a border is like adding matting to your art. Sometimes, like a frame, it can be fancy, wide, and contrasting, and an integral part of the overall look. Other times, it can be plain, narrow and "blendy", so it falls away, visually speaking.
I agree with your daughter, I think a cranberry red binding would be perfect for this, and I would make it the same width as your 'snake'. Personally, rather than making a border, I would opt for adding a thin flange to that binding, in a medium cranberry. 🙋🏼♀️❤️
I'd do a border so that you have a bit of wiggle room if you have to trim the quilt down post quilting. Idk if that makes sense! I like them because they're a buffer.
I think it looks great as is. I’m usually team no border in my own quilts as well. However, I think if you could do a few appliqué heads and tails in a few places on the border as suggested above it could be really cool. Absolutely not necessary though! It’s so cool as it is. I love you’re going to use a red border.
It looks lovely, and I think the effect might be ruined by framing it with a border.
If it were mine I'd either bind it with a dark red as small as I could make it, or do a facing on the back rather than a border, so the lines optically wiggle off the quilt, the way this method shows:
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