10 | Add sashing & borders
Exercise 10
10 | Add sashing and/or borders to your quilt design.
Objective | To add rows and columns to create sashing between our quilt blocks and borders around the quilt perimeter. We will also show you how to create blocks for cornerstones or to be used in the border.
Sashing & Border Alternatives | There are tons of options for sashing and borders. Here are the options included in this exercise guide:
01 | Adding Sashing
You can either have sashing with or without cornerstones.
a | Sashing with Cornerstones
To select all the blocks in the first column of the quilt, click on the number 1 at the top of the column. This will highlight all the blocks in the column as well as activate an Options button.
Click on the Options button and then select Insert After.
Select all the cell blocks in Column 2 by clicking on the number 2 at the top of the column. Click on the Options button and then select Resize.
Enter the desired finished width of your sashing and click OK.
In this example, the finished width of the sashing is 2 inches.
There is now an empty 2 inch wide column between the first column and second column of blocks.
Repeat Steps 01a.1-4 for all remaining sashing for both the columns and rows (as desired).
In this example, sashing was added between all blocks.
Now we can fill in the sashing and cornerstones with the fabric of our choice. In this example, I'm going to use existing Color Tags, but new Color Tags can also be created.
Click on all the sashing rows/columns between blocks (but not the cornerstones). Once they are selected, they will be outlined in blue.
Click on the 1 PATCH BLOCKS tab (nested inside the BLOCKS tab). It will expand.
Click on the Add To Quilt button next to Color Tag A (I want to use the background fabric for my sashing).
Now all the sashing is the same color as the background fabric.
To add Color Tag B to the cornerstones, click on the cell blocks for all the cornerstones and add the Color Tag B 1 Patch Blocks to them (Steps 01a.8-9).
b | Creating a Cornerstone Block
If you'd like to create a special block to add to your cornerstones, you can design your own block and then place it inside all the cornerstone cell blocks, instead of placing a 1 Patch Color Tag (a).
On the quilt grid, select the cell block that you want to put a new block in by clicking on it. Selected blocks will be outlined in blue.
Right click on the cell block to activate the dropdown menu.
Click on Create Block 2 x 2.
The Block Editor window will open. Create your new custom 2 x 2 block.
See Exercise 02 | Create a block for a refresher on how to do this.
In this example, I created an Hourglass block for my cornerstones.
The block will automatically be placed in our cornerstone cell block.
Now that we have our custom cornerstone block, you can select the remaining cornerstone cell blocks and add the custom cornerstone block to these cells.
c | Sashing without Cornerstones
To select all the blocks in the first column of the quilt, click on the number 1 at the top of the column. This will highlight all the blocks in the column as well as activate an Options button.
Click on the Options button and then select Insert After.
Select all the cell blocks in Column 2 by clicking on the number 2 at the top of the column. Click on the Options button and then select Resize.
Enter the desired finished width of your sashing and click OK.
In this example, the finished width of the sashing is 2 inches.
There is now an empty 2 inch wide column between the first column and second column of blocks.
Repeat Steps 01a.1-4 for all remaining sashing for both the columns and rows (as desired).
In this example, sashing was added between all blocks.
To remove the cornerstones, select all the cell blocks in Row 2 by clicking on the number 2 to the left of the row.
Now we have one complete row of sashing.
Repeat Steps 01c.7-8 for to create the remaining rows of sashing.
Now we can fill in the sashing with the fabric of our choice. In this example, I'm going to use an existing Color Tag, but new Color Tags can also be created.
Click on all the sashing rows/columns between blocks. Once they are selected, they will be outlined in blue.
Click on the 1 PATCH BLOCKS tab (nested inside the BLOCKS tab). It will expand.
Click on the Add To Quilt button next to Color Tag A (I want to use the background fabric for my sashing).
Now all the sashing is the same color as the background fabric.
02 | Adding Borders
You can (a) use the quick method to create uniform borders; or (b) manually create borders by adding rows and columns around the perimeter of the quilt and filling their cells with blocks.
a | Quick Method Borders
TIP: You can add up to 3 quick method borders in PreQuilt.
Click on the BINDING/BORDER tab on the left side control panel.
Click on the 'Add Border' button.
A 2" border will automatically be added around the entire quilt. Change the border to 4" and choose a Color Tag from the dropdown Fabric menu for the borders color.
In this example, I'll keep it Color Tag A, which is also the background fabric.
If you'd like to add another border, repeat Steps 02a.2-3 to add up 3 borders around the outside of the quilt grid.
In this example, I have added 2 quick method borders.
b | Borders Built with Cell Blocks
To add a border around the quilt grid, we'll need to add rows and columns around the outside perimeter of the current quilt grid and then fill the border with blocks.
Select row 1 by clicking on the number 1 to the left of the row.
Click on the Options button next to number 1. A dropdown menu will appear. Click on Insert Before to add a row on top of the current row.
You will now see an additional row above our row.
To resize the row, select the number 1 to the left of the row, click on Options next to number 1 and click on Resize from the dropdown menu.
Input the number 6 (which will be a row height equal to 6 inches). Click on OK to save.
Now the row is 6 inches tall.
Repeat Steps 02b.1-5 to add a row at the bottom and to the right and left of the quilt blocks to form the entire perimeter.
Note: To add a row to the bottom and a column to the far right side, click on Insert After instead of Insert Before.
c | Adding Blocks to the Border Perimeter
If you already have border blocks designed, you can add them to the border cell blocks now. If not, create a custom block and use the Block Editor to design your border block.
On the quilt grid, select one of the border cell blocks that you want to put a new block in by clicking on it. Selected blocks will be outlined in blue.
Right click on the cell block to activate the dropdown menu.
Click on Create Block 12 x 6.
The Block Editor window will open. Create your new custom 12 x 6 block.
See Exercise 02 | Create a block for a refresher on how to do this.
In this example, I created this block.
The block will automatically be placed in our border cell block.
Now that we have our custom border block, you can select the remaining border cell blocks and add the custom border block to these cells.
Note: You will need to rotate the block to fit into the vertical border cell blocks.
Repeat Steps 02c.1-7 for the corner cell blocks.
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