Beautiful Borders, Backings and Bindings: A Quilters Guide to Fabulous Finishing Techniques (Paperback)

~ Jill Reber (Author), Margaret Sindelar (Author) "Discover how adding a border to a quilt top not only increases the size, but enhances the carefully crafted center so that it becomes the..." (more)
Key Phrases: quilt center, quilt top, seam allowance, Flying Geese, Assembling Use, Borders Gallery (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Talented designer Margaret Sindelar presents dozens of beautiful borders, backings, and bindings in this comprehensive 80-pages teaching guide on finishing details and touches. Choose from dozens of step-by-step illustrated ideas to learn how to finish everything from quilts, wallhangings and table runners to pillows and place mats. The inspirations created by Margaret from years of designing quilting, crafting, and sewing projects for leading national publications will allow sewer to enhance their own handmade treasures with unique edgings and embellishments.

About the Author

Jill Reber and her husband own Master Piece Rulers, Static Stickers and companion quilting products. A prolific designer and quilter with over 150 quilts in the past 15 years, Jill's quilt designs were monthly features in American Patchwork & quilting during the year 2000. Margaret Sindelar's remarkable career spans nearly 30 years as a needlework teacher, professional designer and photo stylist for leading book and magazine publisher.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Landauer Corporation (March 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890621811
• ISBN-13: 978-1890621810
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #267,881 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walking the reader through 6 classic quilt border treatments, May 12, 2005

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Beautiful Borders Backings Bindings offers the wisdom of professional quilters and designers Jill Reber and Margaret Sindelar to enhance one's quilted creations. Walking the reader through six classic quilt border treatments including applique, as well as 38 different finishing techniques, creative edgings, and instructions for creating quilts from start to finish, Beautiful Borders Backings Bindings is illustrated in full color with diagrams and step-by-step photos. An excellent how-to guide for quilters of all skill and experience levels, and especially recommended for quilters who want to try something different than plain square or rectangular quilts with ordinary borders.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good and not so good, December 29, 2007

By	E Rice (western ny state) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

this is a hard book to rate, because, while there is a lot of good information and some nice projects, there is also a major omission and some really slovenly workmanship.

as the title states, the book discusses borders, backings (this is one of the good parts, since backings are frequently ignored) and bindings (and there are several useful variations in this section).

the problem i have is that this is more a project book than a technique book. various combinations of piecework and applique borders are shown in photos and in the projects, but there are no instructions on how to develop one's own borders. it's not that the ideas are bad, and beginning quilters will find a lot of information, it's just that suggestions for designing borders for one's own projects are terse--most of the book is step-by-step instructions for making the projects.

the projects include three small quilts (the largest is 78" square) and table toppers and runners. at least two of the projects are now on my list of things to do some day.

one glaring omission in a book on bindings is the lack of the continuous bias technique. i've seen instructions for this time- and fabric-saving technique in a 'quilter's newletter magazine' from the late 80s, so it's been around for quite a while, yet it is not covered in this book. this is a major drawback. the needleturn applique instructions would be useless to anyone not familiar with applique and hand sewing.

the slovely workmanship is mainly the quilting in the photos. i'm assuming it was done with a longarm machine, because, if it was done with a domestic machine, it really is inexcusable. as it is, if i had a professional longarm quilter return my quilt with the kind of work in the photos, i would refuse to pay for it.

on one hand, there is plenty of information for a beginner and some good tips, so that i wouldn't say that it would be a waste of time to read the book; on the other hand, there isn't much for the intermediate quilter who wants to learn how to improve her designs. i wouldn't recommend it as the first, and definitely not the only, book on this subject, but i also wouldn't say avoid it. i suppose the best course would be to get a copy from your local library and see if it has anything useful for you. then check out bonnie k. browning's book, _borders and finishing touches_, which does include instructions on how to develop borders, or sally collins' _borders, bindings, and edges.' for some really interesting edge treatments, unfortunately without instructions, see sharon schamber's gallery of quilts in her book _piece by piece_.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it from the first page!, May 27, 2006

By	sew_happy! - See all my reviews

Fabrics are the center of my creative world. I have been sewing clothes and stuffed toys, etc. since i was ten, but then my grandmother got me excited about quilting. i have lots of books and fabrics now, but had no specific direction. i didn't even have a clue, why my project ventures were exciting at the fabric store, but i seemed to stall when i got the fabrics home and looked over patterns. i wanted to do more with my quilts than just ordinary blocks and plain, dull borders. i had some ideas, but couldn't "get it together". i wanted something refreshing to decorate with, and also wanted to make gifts that would be really loved by all, but not much experience in this new-to-me, area. i reviewed the book and sent for it, thinking it would be good, but with every detailed, colorful, inspiring page, it was a dream come true. it gave me the answer to a question, i wasn't even aware of: something's missing, but what? It has step by step, hold your hand, detailed instructions. it's loaded with crisp, colorful pictures, front to back, that are wonderful, - nothing even remotely boring here. like it says, beautiful borders, awesome bindings, and don't underestimate the importance of the backing. there's embellishment techniques that are awesome, and fully explained with words and pictures. your fear will dissipate and joy abounds. It has all the tools and fabric information listed for each lesson, formatted, in not only an understandable way, even for a beginning quilter, but it's beyond inspiring. if you want to stop thinking and start doing, and your eager, but unfocused, and don't know why, this books for you.