Binding that last step to a finished quilt. I know quilters that love it and others that hate it. I’m a lover of the processes. Cutting out a quilt is my necessary evil. But since I have to get that done in order to get to the parts I love it happens. I’m afraid if it was the other way around I might never finish a quilt. Today I thought I’d share a few tips. Who knows maybe I’ll convert a few of the haters. If not to the loving side at least to making it tolerable.
Making binding is fairly easy. I like to make mine scrappy. Is anyone surprised by that? I have a tutorial for it here. If you don’t want it scrappy just use a single fabric rather than sewing strips together as shown in the tutorial.
Getting the binding onto your quilt is the next step. Hereyou can find steps to help you along doing it all by machine.
Getting it meet up perfectly can throw many quilters. Here’s a tutorial on how to make it come out perfect each time.
Let me know if you have questions. I’m preparing for a class on binding and would like to hear where people struggle and what they might find useful. Your questions and tips would really help me to make this class a success.
Thanks!
like you, I love to bind !!! For a long time I had trouble with the final join, but i'm a binding pro now !! enjoy your class.
When I join fabric strips together with a mitered seam, I leave the little "ears" sticking out until the binding is stitched down. That way I can easily see if one of the joins falls at a corner and make an adjustment before sewing. Gook luck!
I have been converted to a 2 3/4" binding. That is double folded, of course. No pressing needed. Sewn first to the back side and then wrapped around and to the front of the quilt for a final stitch just barely on the binding.
And when I am joining the start tail to the end tail, I leave only a snitch over 1/4" between the tails, finger press a perpendicular edge on both and then match the finger pressed lines up for the last miter.
The wider binding is: a) EASY, b) allows all your scrappiness to shine, c) allows for all kinds of uneven, out-of-square tops I am given to longarm.
My friend converted me to loving doing the binding and she does things a lot like you do Emily. I think your class should go very well!
Love those scrappy bindings!
I love the binding process too. Good luck with your class.
I love the binding process too. That's when the quilt is completely done! Love your scrappy binding!