Saw toothed pieced border completed on Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt update #17 – Second Border
Historically Inspired · Newspaper Serial Quilts

Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt update #17 – Second Border

Lorri Carney

Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt

Second border

The second border for Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt was the 2-1/4″ wide pieced strip, made up of alternating buff and white triangles. The triangles being the same size used in the basket blocks. Nancy mentioned she “found the exact center of sides, top and bottom and put a 2-1/2″ square of buff there. Then she pieced the buff and white triangles alternately” and “she slanted the buff in opposite directions starting from the square”. Liking the way that this looked and being up for a challenge, this is what I also decided upon. Then I decided that math-ing was hard. Plan B was to copy Martha who “used no square but pieced hers by having them all go in same direction”.

It having been awhile since the last time working on this quilt and the sewing room being perpetually a mess (I was trying to think of a fancier word but sometimes the truth is ugly), I had to gather bits and pieces up from here, there, and everywhere. Mostly though, the pieces were all in one basket.

Basket of previously cut bias strips of buff fabric
A lucky find left for me from past-Lorri
stack of buff fabric blocks and stack of white fabric blocks
In the basket was lots and many of the buff and white blocks already cut out.  Notice my brand new ironing board cover!
stack of buff blocks and stack of white blocks with diagonal pencil lines. waiting to be made into half square triangle blocks
The construction of 1/2 square triangles was same as before
Stack of half square triangle blocks. showing the amount that were needed for the pieced border
So very many blocks to be squared up. One – at – a – time.

You may think that sewing long strips of 1/2 square triangle blocks together would be a cinch, and you’d be correct. The difficult part was getting them all going in the desired direction. Let’s just say that there was grumbling, seam ripping and more grumbling.

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt with left and right sawtooth borders attached
Second border on the sides of the quilt

To get the correct amount of pieced blocks for each edge of the quilt could have been a difficult math calculation… I wasn’t up for that. Instead I made a long strip of pieced blocks. Then matched it up to one of the sides of the quilt, removing any extra blocks. Once the length of one side was determined, it was an easy thing to just count the number of blocks and mirror the length on the other side of the quilt.

Matching pieced border to bottom edge of quilt. Checking placement of plain white corner block

Getting the length of pieced block border for the top and bottom worked the same way. With the addition of a plain white block at either end of the border strip.

Crooked seams opened up to be sewn correctly
Crooked seam opened up
crooked seam that had been opened is pinned for re-sewing
Crooked seams pinned for re-sewing

There was a little difficulty in putting the bottom border on. Because of a crooked seam for one of the side borders, the pieced strip didn’t fit. This was fixed by opening up the seams, pinning them carefully, and re-sewing them. Straight, this time.

Saw toothed pieced border completed on Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt
Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt with pieced border on all sides

Only one more border to go!

The first border

Published by Lorri Carney

I am a mom and a grandma, daughter, sister, state worker, seamstress, knitter, some time crocheter, gardener, history bounder, motorcycle safety instructor and girlfriend. Like many of us I have WAY TOO MANY hobbies.

2 thoughts on “Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt update #17 – Second Border”