Borders on the Blocks of The Grand Convergence Experiment Quilt
Borders on the blocks? Don't you mean sashing? Not exactly. When all of the converged blocks were complete and trimmed, it turned out that they were various sizes. As the blocks were sewn together, it was apparent that there would be some variation in size, partially because of the number of seams in the block, and also depending on the position and / or angle of the seams. For example, the block with the curved strips running from top to bottom ended up being more of a rectangle than a square. And the block pictured above should have been about the smallest because it had the most seams in it. The surprise was that there was one set of blocks that was a full inch smaller than the others. Stephanie rejected my idea of just adding a small piece of fabric around the block to make it the same size as the others. However, she liked the idea of setting the blocks on a diagonal; mostly because she doesn't like traditional sashing where the blocks line up like little soldiers. The first step was to make sure that all of the blocks were trimmed so the sides were even.
Then, she cut rectangles 5 inches wide by 15 inches long. Cut on the diagonal, the long side of the half-rectangle triangle fit on the sides of each of the blocks. The one block that was significantly smaller did get a 1 inch border added. These triangle pieces were added to each side of the blocks. The result was that each of the blocks was square, the same size, and the converged blocks in the center were placed on an angle. Because the converged blocks are square, and the resulting blocks on an angle are square, all of the blocks are at the same angle in the quilt. Somewhat boring, but not much choice.
Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren
TheQuiltingCoach
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