Quilt Binding 101

Hi There!

Remember I told you that Janet, one of our quilting clients, had explained to me how to bind your quilt, BOTH SIDES, with your sewing machine.

So, here's MY opinion, okay?

If you're making a heirloom quilt or hoping to submit your quilt in a quilt show, you may not want to sew your binding this way.

But if you're making place mats, or a quilt for your neighbor's mailman's cousin's daughter and your name isn't going on the label, AND you're pressed for time, you might to consider this technique.

*grin*

Here's a quick tutorial for you.

Like everything else, practice DOES make perfect - or almost - and lately I've had an AWFUL lot of place mats and baby quilts to practice on!

Cut and iron your binding like you normally would - you know? At 2-1/2 inch, right?

Now, when you FIRST sew it, it's best to sew on the UNDERNEATH of the quilt... the OPPOSITE of what you normally would have done, right?
(I'll explain why, later)



Sew your corners down, like you normally would.
(please ignore the dust)

The Zipper Foot is my friend!!!!

Imagine? I've got all these different kind of "feet", with my sewing machine and my friend pointed out the Zipper Foot, and explained what I could do with it!

WOW!!!!! I LOVE THIS FOOT!!!

Anyhow, here's what you do:

Put on your Zipper Foot.

Align your needle to 1/4".

Flip your place mat over.

See the sew line from the binding, that you just sewed? Well, fold over the binding, line up the folded edge of your binding and try to line it up with the previous sewn line.

Okay... thread color... I forgot to mention that.

Top thread should match the color of the binding.

Bobbin thread should match the color of the binding, also.

Butt up your Zipper Foot to the edge of the binding and VOILA!

You might want to use pins to line up the edge of the binding to just a teeny, weeny over the previous sewn line... I just eye-ball it and go fairly slow.... re-aligning my binding every 2 or 3 inches.

Your corners are done exactly the same way as when you sew the binding on, by hand.

I found it very helpful to pin the edges down.

And here's the final results!

You can click on any of these pictures
to see a close-up

And another picture of Gilbert's magnificent (IMHO) work!
*VBG*

See why I suggest that you first sew on the binding to the BOTTOM part, first? So that, when you sew the OTHER side... which is now the TOP of the quilt... you want it to look nice.

Hope this helps! And if you have any place mats or non-heirloom quilts, give it a try!

Rosa