National Park Block Borders or Just Sashing

[Jess.senseofadventure]

Hi, I saw some pictures of national park blocks designed by Susan Davis. I then stumbled on a blog that gave patterns for a few of the blocks. So I stitched together a bunch of my favorite blocks without much thought about putting it all together. I didn't think about background or sashing color. Should I put a colored solid thin border around each block and then put them all together with sashing in between? Or just use sashing?



I might have to use a border because I don't have my 1/4 inch seam allowance down and they are slightly different in sizes. Oops.

[KPH]

They are beautiful!

I'd add a little border to make the blocks all the same size, then worry about the sashing.

[jjkaiser]

I love your blocks!! I am not sure I understand your question though. Maybe there is a confusion in terms? Normally a "border" refers to the very outside edge of your quilt on all four sides, and "sashing" is the strip in between the blocks, and also a strip (usually the same fabric and width as the sashing) that goes horizontally between each row. So, I like your idea of a narrow sashing but I would not put a border AND a sashing around each individual block. I hope that makes sense? But there are no hard and fast rules on this so however you want to do it is perfectly okay so long as you like the way it looks.

[SuzanneOrleansOntario]

Great job of the blocks. Since you say they are not all same size, you might want to offset a sashing or block to make them uniform in size. I would add a border around the quilt to frame it.

[Jess.senseofadventure]

Yes, I see what you are saying. My terms aren't quite correct. I didn't mean a border around the whole thing. I was talking about a thin strip around each block and also sashing between them. I just want them to stand out and was not sure what would be the best. I haven't finished very many quilts yet. Thank you for your reply!

[Caroline T.]

A border around each block and sashing would actually be redundant (unless your borders were a different color than the sashing).

If you want the fabric surrounding your blocks to be all the same color, and since you mentioned that not all your blocks came out the same size, I would do a slightly wider border around each block, then trim them all down to the same size (being careful to center the block - if that makes sense?)

By the way, your blocks are lovely.

[Claire Hallman]

I think Caroline came up with the perfect design solution. The blocks are gorgeous.

[Jess.senseofadventure]

Thank you all so very much for the help and compliments! It helps me to learn and is very appreciated. I am going to measure my blocks and see if I can get them blocked to the same size. If not, I'll outline them. Thank you again!