Binding Tutorial - Part Two

At this point, you have most of the binding sewn down, and two tails that we need to sew together.

Lay the longer right hand piece, right side down, on top of the shorter left hand piece. Place one or two pins toward the edges if needed. Sew from the top left corner to the bottom right:

Once the pieces are sewn together, you can flip them together into one continuous piece. At this point, it will be very obvious if you sewed in the wrong direction!! You should have a smooth piece that will exactly fit the remaining edge of your quilt. Trim the seam allowance, and finish attaching the binding.Once the binding is attached to the front, I hand-stitch it to the back. If I were to attach the whole thing by machine, I would first attach it to the BACK of my quilt, then bring it to the front in order to cover the first seam. You can use a decorative stitch or a straight seam with matching/invisible thread for this option.

Binding is one of the tedious steps - but it has to be done in order to have a finished quilt! Quilt show judges pay particular attention to this - they also want to see the mitered corners sewn down on the front as well as the back. And some longarmers will attach the binding to the front of the quilt for you, which saves some time if you can afford the extra cost.

Binding Tutorial - Part one

I finished Elizabeth's Yellow Brick Road, and now I hope to sew on 320 inches of binding in the next 24 hours!

First, we have been outside with baby K a little bit.

I had some wonderful teachers: Mary K and Faith, who work at my mom's shop. I think this is a fairly standard method for creating straight-grain bindings.

To start, I measure the perimeter of the quilt, and add 20. My current quilt measured 74 by 87, which is about 320 + 20 = 340. Divide this by 40, and that tells you how many strips to cut for your binding. I cut nine strips at 2.25 inches (two and a quarter). Sew them together on a diagonal (see part 2), trim the seam allowance and press in half.

I then take this looooong folded strip and sew the raw edge to the FRONT of my quilt, using a quarter inch seam. I start sewing in the middle of one side of the quilt, and leave at least a 10 inch tail.

When you reach a corner, stop a quarter inch from the edge, turn the quilt, and sew off through the corner:To make a mitered corner, fold the strip vertically to the top of the quilt:

Then bring it down, keeping the fold even with the edge of the quilt. You will have a little triangle "pocket" when you are done. Start sewing again using a quarter inch seam.

When you have turned the fourth corner, stop sewing, leaving a substantial gap, and bring your quilt to a cutting surface. Fold both tails so they meet somewhere in the middle. Cut the extra binding so that one inch remains on the left, and 1.25 inches remains on the right.

You are oe ready to sew the tails to make a continuous loop! Go back to the directions for part two.