I wanted to have a quick tutorial on binding a quilt as I love to do binding but most people don’t and I think it’s because it can be tricky. But Practice, Practice, Practice and you will become a binding master.
I’ll take you through the binding I did for a raffle quilt that Lakeside Quilters Guild did for our local library to raise money. It is called the library quilt and this is the 3rd one we have done – the other 2 we just raffled to generate money for our charity projects.
Start by cutting off the excess material and batting to square up your quilt.
I use a ruler to mark a 1/4″ away from the top edge – this will pad your binding
Here’s what it will look like after you trim around the whole quilt use your ruler to keep it a square as possible.
To create your binding the most general width is 2.5″, once you cut these strips, you will need to connect them together in the most non-de-script way – which is on the diagonal. I always do this in the same direction each time to perfect the technique and to not make it confusing.
Then mark on the diagonal – now make note of which way I’m marking the diagonal. Then pin to secure while sewing together.
Here’s how your binding will look when pinning your strips together depending on the length of each strip.
Now the sewing part, I would recommend chain piecing as it’s quicker, you don’t break your thread in between until you are all finished the entire length of binding.
Here’s the first connection going into my machine.
Here’s what it looks like going to the machine in “chain” piecing. Always be careful sewing over the pins – try to go a bit slower or remove the pins right before they go under the needle.
Once all of your sections are sewn together cut 1/4″ seam allowance on the right hand side of your seam and separate your sections.
press the entire length of the binding in half
open the seam allowances prior to pressing in half
leave a tail about 8″ prior to starting to sew your binding to quilt top – this will make it easier to connect the start to the end of the binding.
Backstitch, then begin sewing along the 1st length of the quilt to the 1st corner, stop 1/4″ from the corner, backstitch.
bring your binding straight up to create a 45 degree angle to the corner of your quilt top.
bring it straight back down aligned the edge of the binding with the edge of the fabric – you can pin the corner if you want it more secure then just finger holding.
Backstitch and then continue along the perimeter of your quilt and
stop approx 8″ from where the beginning is – backstitch.
overlap the beginning and the end exactly the same as your binding width. 2.5″ wide binding, overlap by this amount as you can see with my ruler. Cut off excess.
place your quilt so the binding is on the far side away from you, match up the corners (binding strips) the same as you did when you connected the binding to begin with, mark, sew, cut to 1/4″ seam allowance, press.
Once stitched, pin in place on the top of the quilt and finish sewing together…all attached, the binding is complete. Now blind stitch the binding to the back of your quilt.
Binding complete!!
(any questions, email me valerie@pastimesonline.ca
