Choosing the Perfect Carpet Border
Selecting a border can be the most exciting step of the carpet stitching process because you can finally visualize your completed project. We are so proud to release our updated carpet border kits that now include precisely stitch-printed canvases. In most cases, you will never need to chart a carpet border again. Read below for more information and tips on choosing your border.
First, decide which border will be the best frame for your 16” panels.
Here are our recommendations for each border by collection:
|
Border |
Recommended Collections |
Kit Type |
|
Ribbon & Bow Border |
Botanical Garden Collection Evergreen Collection Victorian Animal Collection Climbing Flower Collection Fruit of the Earth Collection Natural History Collection Seasonal Sampler Collection Victorian Flower Collection |
Stitch-Printed |
|
Trellis Border |
Shade Garden Collection Exotic Collection |
Stitch-Printed |
|
Wild Rose & Forget-Me-Not Border |
Forget-Me-Not Collection |
Stitch-Printed |
|
Nasturtium & Butterfly Border |
Botanical Garden Collection Evergreen Collection Natural History Collection |
Stitch-Printed |
|
Coral Border |
Shell Collection |
Stitch-Printed |
|
Harlequin Border |
Blooms Collection Botanical Fruit Collection |
Charted |
|
Rope Border |
Fish Collection |
Simple |
|
Greek Key Border |
Beasts of the Field Collection |
Simple |
|
10-Row Border |
Any Collection |
Simple |
Once you’ve chosen the perfect style, you’ll want to begin with the Four Corners Starter Kit. Each corner kit contains four canvases, a design chart card, and all the joining wool needed for an entire carpet. While this is the kit to start with, we recommend buying all of your border kits together to ensure consistency in the wool dye lots.
The third step is to determine how many Side Section Kits are required for your project. Each side kit includes 2 side-section canvases, a chart card and wool. We have included a few smart diagrams to help with this aspect of your design decisions. When you stitch the side panels, be sure to stitch them in the correct direction, as they cannot be rearranged to various areas of the layout once completed. This is especially important for the Nasturtium & Butterfly and Wild Rose & Forget-Me-Not designs.
If you would rather hand-select the colours used around your carpet, you may opt to stitch a simple 10-row border. This variation uses 3 complementary colours - one for joining and two for the added rows around each panel, as well as the outer whipstitched edging.
We highly recommend reaching out to the Elizabeth Bradley customer service team with any questions you may have about borders or carpet finishing. We have seen so many spectacular carpets in our years, and look forward to helping make yours charming too!