A lot of quilters don’t like the process of binding their quilts. I love this part, as it finishes off the quilt and you can finally sit back and admire your work (or if you’re like me, look for imperfections!!) Before you move on, have you taken a look at our previous post on creating your own binding?
The size of your project doesn’t make any difference to the way it’s bound. If it’s all straight edges, this method will work for you. It is assumed that you’ve got your binding pressed in half and it’s all ready to start attaching, but if you’ve not created the binding yet, take a look at this post.
Measure roughly 10 inches at the end of the binding. This is the point we’re going to begin sewing. We need that tail left unsewn so we can join the binding together – we’ve a super-easy way to do this… but we’ll get there!
We’re starting on the back of the quilt. Place the binding raw edge to raw edge on the BACK of your quilt about half way down one of the longest edges, remembering to leave a 10 inch tail unsewn. Clip the binding in place (or pin if you prefer).Clip all the way down to your first corner. Begin sewing using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Backstitch a few times at the beginning. Remove the clips (or pins) as you go. Sew right down the side until you’re 1/4 inch away from the edge. With your needle still down, left the presser foot. Pivot the corner so that it’s pointing right at you. Lower the foot and sew off the edge of the binding. Take the binding and fold it up off the quilt as shown. Then fold it back down. Begin sewing from 1/4 inch in (you should be able to feel the line in the fabric. Sew all the way to the next corner and repeat. Once you’ve passed all corners, you’ll eventually get to the side you started with. Sew down that side until you’re roughly 12 inches away from your first stitch. As you can see, I stopped a little early, but that’s not a problem, it gave me more to work with.Trim the binding a bit so you can get the roll out of the way – Trim so it overlaps the starting tail by 12 (ish) inches.
Have a read through the process of joining the binding tails before starting to make sure you understand it. This method is IMO by far, the easist method! And… as long as you cut from the right side – it’ll fit perfectly every time!
Firstly, make a little mark roughly halfway between your two binding tails. the mark won’t ne seen – I just used a biro.Snip a small piece of the binding you have left off. We’ll use that to determine the correct cuts.Flatten out your starting tail and mark in the same place as your previous mark…Lay your offcut of binding with the centre against the mark as shown.Draw across any excess binding. As you can see – I didbn’t leave a long tail when I started. I got very lucky that it was just about long enough – I do need to follow my own advice in future! Still… Mark that line.Trim any excess past the line. Repeat this for the other tail end using the same mark. So… Mark binding, place offcut, mark cut line, cut. The tails will now sit 2.5 inches over one another.Because the tail ends have been cut to the correct size, there’s no more measuring (Phew!) Fold your quilt in half at this point. It will help you manouver the tail ends together. Place the ends right sides together (RST). As this binding is the same colour on both sides, it’s difficult to see, however… your outer crease lines should be face to face. It can be fiddly to hold them together, so pop in a pin once yu have them lined up.Sew corner to corner from the left down to the right.Pull your quilt flat to check the binding sits correctly. Once you’ve checked and are happy… cut the excess off the back down to 1/4 inch.Take back to your machine and sew using that 1/4 inch seam allwance as before. Stitch from where you finished, all the way back down to where you started. See that lovely angled join… Perfect!
Now the binding is joined up and completely stitched to the back of your quilt, we need to secure it on the front. This time you’ll need to start at a corner. I promise this all gets easier each time you do it.
Be sure to use a bobbin thread that will blend in to the back of your quilt. As we sew it down to the front, there will be an additional line of stitches on the back. They shouldn’t touch the binding, so swap out your bobbin thread for the same colour you used to quilt the rest of the… quilt… Fold down one edge of the binding as shown. Now fold the following edge over to cover the first. If folded correctly, it will create a perfect mitred corner. Hold this in place and put under your presser foot. Sew slowly until you’re confident the corner is stitched (backstitch a little too!) Continue folding the binding over to the front of your quilt and stitching as close to the edge as you can. When you get to the corner, fold down the side you’re currently stitching on. Then fold the binding from the next side over the top of it. It should create another perfect corner as it did with the first. You’ll need to hold this in place as you stitch so it doesn’t shift. I don’t recommend pinning here as by the time the machine has stitched enough to hold the corner, you’ll have gone over the pin, which is never good!! Continue stitching, repeating the steps for the corners.
That’s it! You’re quilt is now bound and has lovely mitred corners. I hope this helps someone, but if you do require further help, or if something isn’t clear, just let us know.
This has now been received by the recipient, our gorgeous Great Nephew, Harrison – And I’m happy to report that it was a hit! We received a lovely “unboxing” video and it made all that work worth it!
2 thoughts on “Dino Quilt Part 5 – Simple But Effective Binding Method”
Isnt it! It’s from a fat quarter bundle we sell. If I could think of something else to make with it, I would. Maybe I’ll make more cat kickers. Have you seen those? The cats love them. I made soooo many as gifts a coule years ago. The best thing was all the videos and pics I was sent of cats playing with them. So cute!
Isnt it! It’s from a fat quarter bundle we sell. If I could think of something else to make with it, I would. Maybe I’ll make more cat kickers. Have you seen those? The cats love them. I made soooo many as gifts a coule years ago. The best thing was all the videos and pics I was sent of cats playing with them. So cute!