Meticulous Miters

Recently, I received a request asking if I would do a blog about mitering when multiple borders are involved. Well, this week I had an idea that I thought would be a cute way to show that process!

I started with a pink plaid cut to 35” x 12” to make the center of a table runner. Then, I cut three strips each of the following border fabrics: pink 1½” wide, light green 1½”, and darker green 2”.

Sew the three border strips together, making three identical strip sets. Cut one of those in half, so you have four different pieced border sections.

Now for the fun part. I marked the corners of my plaid fabric ¼” from each edge. As you can see, I used the corner of my square ruler to get that perfect measurement. 

Center the first strip set along one long edge of the plaid center fabric. These strip sets came out 4” wide, so you’ll need at least that much hanging over the edge on either side of the center fabric.

I put a straight pin right through the marked dot in each corner, so I'd know where my stopping point was.

You'll want to turn your stitch length down to 1.8 or 2.0 when stopping short of the end. The smaller stitches don’t pull out as easily as the bigger stitches do. I also do a little backstitch at the dot just to double secure it. You don’t want to stitch beyond the dot, though. Press these seams out towards the borders.

I put the two side borders on first, then centered the end strip sets on each end. I marked the same dot intersection with these end borders and pinned everything in place. These end borders extend beyond the side borders by quite a bit. You don’t need much extra, but 1” or so overhang is nice to work with.

Once sewn, with the seam pressed out towards the borders, you can see how the two border strip sets just meet each other at the dot in the corner.

Now, working at the ironing board, lay the corner out smoothly and flat, spreading it out as much as you can. Turn one flapping border end under and align the turned-under end with the end that is laid out flat. This is where you'll match up all those seams as they intersect at the corner.

Press this in place. You can make minor adjustments at this stage to get those seams to really nest. 

I use a small rectangular ruler with a 45-degree line to line up the pressed crease with the two outer edges of the border. You want the outer edges to align with the ruler and the 45-degree line to run down the crease. This is a nice square miter.

Once I had my corner set and pressed where I wanted it, I used blue painter's tape to hold everything in place. This ensures all those seams stay right where I want them!

Peel back one side of the border to reveal the pressed-in crease. This will be your sewing line.

I pulled all the seams out of the way in the corner so I could get a good clean start as close to the marked dot as possible. Then, I stitched straight down the crease and backstitched at the outer edge.

Trim that seam down to ¼” and press it open.

Recheck the corner for squareness, and all looks well.

Repeat this process with all four corners. 

Just a quick little watermelon table runner to show off a useful technique 🙂

Happy Sunday everyone,

Krista

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