Floating Points and Borders

 Recently there was some discussion in the group about what width binding we preferred and why.  Those of us who favoured 2.25" vs a 2.5" had found it avoided cutting off the points that end at the outer edge.  Betty mentioned that she always added a border to her quilts and so never had that problem.  

We always aim for perfection but most of us can accept a few misaligned seams and a some wonky quilting stitches.  But one thing I think we all hate is working so hard to make our blocks only to cut all the points off at the end.  Aaarrrggh!

I had never considered Betty's solution before and wondered if other quilters had discovered this trick so I went online and learned about floating borders.  This was completely new to me and it's useful for avoiding cutting off points but it is also a pretty cool way to square up a quilt before you add an outer contrasting border.  In both cases it is much easier to hide adjustments in seams in a matching fabric than a contrasting one where a fluctuating seam allowance is going to show.  Here is an example of a floating border:

The purple strip between the outer fuchsia strip and the pinwheel blocks is the floating border.  This strip is your first opportunity to square up your quilt after the quilt top has been assembled and to make sure that your inner pinwheel border will fit around the quilt.  Since it matches the setting squares the center "floats" on top of the background.
 

You can just barely see the inner floating border on this quilt but any problems that arise from having those four huge bias setting squares are eliminated by adding a floating border where all your subsequent squaring up can be hidden.  And the floating center has more impact as well.

No need to cut off any flying geese points at the horizontal axis.  Add the floating border to the inner and outer edges of the flying geese and square up the whole border along the inner edge of the floating border.  

Two floating stars

You can also plan your block construction so that the points don't come near the borders.  Here is a tutorial for making floating stars.  

Here is a link for a free pattern for this floating square quilt.  Both the inner and outer squares are floating.