Rounding Corners on Square Quilts is Easy

While many of us have taken to producing quilts that will serve as wall art instead of "bed art", it's still helpful to know how to round off the edges of your quilt. This can be especially helpful if your quilt will fall to the floor on your bed, where you can accidentally trip on the excess fabric at the corners of the mattress.

To round off the corners of your bed quilt, first measure the length of the drop from the top edge of the bed to the floor. Next, draw a square on a piece of paper that's large enough so that the square's sides are the same length as the drop to the floor. You can then create a hand-made compass to draw the curve or rounded corner for your bed quilt. Wrap some yarn or string around a pencil, and align the pencil tip so that it is positioned at one corner of the square on your paper. Wrap the remaining string end around a straight pin, and insert the pin into one of the corners closest to the pencil tip (not the opposite corner).

Be sure the string is taut between the pencil tip and pin tip. Draw an arc from one corner of the square, around to the opposite corner. Use this pattern to "round off" your quilt across the border corners. This technique works well for single fabric borders as well as appliqué borders where a twining vine can wander around the corner.