Round Corners - How To

I promised this morning I would share my SEW Easy tip for piecing a border with round corners. The secret is my favorite ruler:  Easy Dresden by Darlene Zimmerman. Mine has masking tape on the back to keep it from slipping. Also marks a center line. But back to our project.

The ruler did everything for me. You can see the border is pieced by alternating a top-to-bottom layout of Dresden pieces. For the corners, just make a 5 piece fan. We used full 8" (unfinished) pieces.

Make the corner sets first. Add a reverse piece on each end of the fan/corner to keep the setting on track as you start adding alternating top-and-bottom pieces. Press out from the center.

Then chain-piece 2 piece sets, matching the top of one piece to the bottom of the next. Thanks to Easy Dresden Ruler, the sides line up exactly, no fussy points!

Figure 3-1/2" width for each set to estimate how many you will need for your border (provided you are using full ruler length for your cuts).

Next, combine the sets and corners to make 4 border sections, with the corners in the center Continue pressing all one direction, out from the corner center.

When you attach the border, you will add one or two "capstone" pieces in the center of each quilt side where the border sections meet. The capstone piece is pressed in on both sides. [Sorry, no photo of capstone setting.]

But how did I get the rounded corner to fit the square quilt edge? I sewed the red corner piece last with a needle down 90 degree pivot turn. Barely clip the point, and it presses perfectly flat.