Fu Wonky Border

This is a UFO, it still needs quilting and binding (and maybe one more blue border). But the wonky border was really easy, with very little math, so I am going to show you how I did it. This was a fun Teresa Ascone panel from a few years ago, but it would work with any panel.
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You do have to do a bit of math to at least estimate how wide your final border will be. My pink strips were twice the width of my orange strips, in this case around 4” and 2”. That’s a total of 6”, and you will lose about 1 1/2” in seam allowances from top to bottom, so it would end up around 4 1/2” total. But those measurements are all optional; maybe you want it wider overall, but the center color to be narrower. So you could do 6” and 2”. Or 10" and 3", whatever you want. You just need to remember that you will lose the seam allowances off of each strip.
I cut my pink strips fairly short, around 10”. This is to get a steeper angle. If I cut the strip the whole WOF, it would be very shallow and not that interesting. So I had to make lots of these sections, not just the two shown here. You could do the math to figure out how many, or you can just start making them until you have enough!
In the first photo, I show how I cut them lengthwise at an angle. The exact angle isn’t important, in fact it’s better if they are all different. Just don’t cut corner to corner; you want some of the strip left on both sides.

IMPORTANT: You want to cut some ‘uphill’ and some ‘downhill’. I actually goofed in the photo… I cut them right, but then sewed one wrong, because they are batiks without a right or wrong side. I must have just made more after that, these are old pics. I don’t think it works to just flip a piece over, I think the ‘uphill vs downhill’ will stay the same. But you want some of each for wonkiness.

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​Then insert the narrower strip between the other two. Square up the ends, and cut those in chunks. My chunks were between 1 1/2” and 2”, but that’s totally flexible too. Then start rearranging the chunks and flipping some the other direction, and sew them back together. Mix and match them from different strip sets cut at different angles and ‘uphill vs downhill’ too.
You could cut your chunks the same size, say 2”, but then you would have to do math to make each side of the border the right length. If the chunks are all different, then it’s easy to make each border section the right length. Either trim the end piece if necessary, add another piece, or make a seam a little larger somewhere along the section. Intentional wonkiness often equals less math! Once you have made a few sets, you will have a better idea how many more you need to make to have enough. It totally depends on the size of the quilt or panel you are making them for.
It’s a really fun way to make a wonky border!
Happy sewing! Beret