1. BORDER WITH BOX SHADOW METHOD.

THIS METHOD OF PUTTING A BORDER WITH AN OFFSET INISDE OR OUTSIDE A DIV IS GOOD BECAUSE YOU CAN TARGET ANY OR ALL OF THE BORDER SIDES (WHEREAS THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE USING THE "OUTLINE METHOD" BELOW). HOWEVER, THE BACKGROUND COLOR OF THE ELEMENT (HERE "STICHED" ) MUST MATCH THE COLOR OF THE BOX SHADOW, WHICH IS NO GOOD FOR ELEMENTS WITH A BACKGROUND IMAGE IN THEM--USE THE "OUTLINE METHOD" BELOW IN THIS CASE.

 .stitched {
   padding: 20px;
   margin: 10px;
   background: #ff0030;
   color: #fff;
   font-size: 21px;
   font-weight: bold;
   line-height: 1.3em;
   border: 2px dashed #fff;
   border-radius: 10px;
   /*first part of "box-shadow" (below, before the comma) causes the border put on above to be forced into the div by 4px.  The part after the comma just puts a text shadow around the div, if desired.*/
   box-shadow: 0 0 0 4px #ff0030, 2px 1px 6px 4px rgba(10, 10, 0, 0.5);
   text-shadow: -1px -1px #aa3030;
   font-weight: normal;
}

Stitched

2. OUTLINE METHOD --OUTLINE CAN ONLY PUT A BORDER AROUND ALL FOUR SIDES OF AN ELEMENT-CANNOT TARGET "OUTLINE-LEFT, FOR EG." Have not figured out how to put a border radius on the outline yet.

PUT THIS INTO THE CSS FOR "STICHED" ELEMENT ABOVE:

Stitched

.stitchedWithOutlineMethod{
        outline: 2px dashed orange;
        outline-offset: -18px; }
        /*NEGATIVE VALUE, OUTLINE GOES INSIDE DIV, POSITIVE BALUE IT GOES OUT.*/

3. IF NEITHER OF THESE TWO METHODS WILL WORK FOR YOU, YOU'LL HAVE TO CREATE ANOTHER DIV INSIDE THE ELEMENT, MAKE IT SOME PERCENTAGE LESS (OR, i GUESS MORE) OF THE PARENT DIV AND PUT A BORDER ON THE NEWLY CREATED DIV.THIS IS SIMPLY THE OLDER, CLUNKIER WAY OF DOING IT.