My First Quilt : Inner and Outer Borders

To add the borders, I sewed the green strips together for the inner border. First I sewed 2 strips plus a half for each side, and 2 strips for the top and bottom. Press the seams open. once this is done, sew the longer strips to each side and cut to the length of center panel. Press these seams towards the borders. Sew the shorter strips to the top and bottom, to the edges of the side borders. Also press these seams towards the borders.

 The outside pattern (piano key pattern) is created with 10 strips of fabric from the jelly roll. Iron them out and then sew them together lengthwise. Press the seams in the same direction. Once you create the piece, it should be 20"x42". Mine turned out shorter, even though my seams were no deeper than they should have been, so I needed to cut an extra strip. The instructions advised ten strips, 3.5in wide, each one including a piece of each sewn strip.
Connect three of the piano key pieces for the sides, and 2 (and a half if you had shorter strips like me) Create the half by using a seam ripper.

Sew the strips onto the sides first, cut them to length, then sew the tops onto the quilt. Cut them to length, including the side piano keys. Trim the entire top so that all of the sides are even, if needed.

See my next post on how to add the backing, batting and bindings...