PART 3, FINISHING THE TOP

     We are coming down the home stretch now!

     First, cut four (4) border strips 3" wide from the contrasting fabric.

     Second, cut a piece of backing and batting that is 5" larger all around than your quilt top.  This needs to be larger than the current quilt top, because we need room to add the borders (did I mention this is a quilt-as-you-go project?) and room to allow for some quilting shrinkage.

     Third, layer the top, batting, and batting into a quilt "sandwich" and secure it in place.  Be sure to center the top and leave room for all four (4) of the borders to be added.

     Fourth, using a decorative stitch and a nice embroidery/topstitching thread (I'm using a rainbow-colored thread), machine-stitch around each letter, making sure to go through all sandwich letters.  If you do not have a nice decorative stitch, a regular stitch also works!  If you have a walking foot for your machine and you can use decorative stitches with it, this would make the outlining/quilting of the text easier, too.  Note:  The white area below will be your background fabric, since we are just outlining the text; also, the image below shows the borders attached, which comes in the next few steps.

     Fifth, beginning on the edges, lay one border strip face down (right sides of the fabrics together) and line it up on the edge.  Going through all layers of the quilt, sew this border on (this technique quilts it as you go).  Flip the border out and press it in place.

     Sixth, repeat the above step for the other edge.  Flip the border out and press it in place.

     Seventh, repeat the same step for the top and bottom.  Flip the border out and press it in place.

     Eighth, once you have all four (4) borders stitched on,  smooth the quilt out flat.

     Ninth, you can either be done with the quilting here, or you can quilt around the text.  A meandering stitch would be nice or diagonal lines.  Use your imagination!  Here, I've added meandering lines (which look terrible drawn on a computer; but you should get the gist.  I also would not use black thread, but something that blends well with the background fabric, but wanted the color to show to you).

      Tenth, trim the top, batting, and backing all to the same size.

     Stay tuned for the next installment of directions (and photos), as well as options on finishing your project!

     Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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