Binding Tips and Tricks

Quilting friends,
I meet with the most wonderful small group of quilters (we call ourselves Women of the Cloth) and I am always delighted to see how much everyone helps and encourages each other. If you do not belong to a group, I would highly recommend you find one. I always look forward to our meetings and having some quilting time with my friends. I have also learned so many things from them!

Just a few weeks ago, we were discussing binding issues, so I brought in some quilted samples and fabric strips, and we all enjoyed a demo from each other on our different binding techniques. In this blog, I have tried to summarize what I learned from these wonderful fellow quilters.

 The below techniques assume you already know the basics of binding - there are videos on YouTube by several instructors on how to do this. It would probably be very confusing to try to follow what I am telling you here without understanding basic binding application techniques.

I have struggled off and on trying to make sure those bindings are filled and corners great, and have occasionally wondered why my corners look at bit funky. After trying the tips I learned from my group, I am now delighted to have perfect corner miters - and no empty bindings! Think of these tips as extra information that you can decide whether or not would work for you.


The orange pin is the start point.
Proceed to wrap the binding around,
folding the corners properly
and pinning into place until
you can see where the binding
 seams will end up.

A thank you to Donna Findley who embroidered
this cute baby quilt and has allowed me
to use it for this demonstration.

1) It really is irritating to me to have my binding seams end up at the corner, but if you do a quick check by putting a pin in your quilt where you intend to start, leaving your tail above (typically 8 to 10"), then wrapping your binding around the quilt, you can determine roughly where your seams are going to end up and make adjustments at the start point if necessary.



Some tools you may have to
mark your corner.

I use my right triangle,
lining it up with the edge of my quilt,
and mark with tailor's chalk.

2) Begin sewing your binding at your start point. As you approach the corner, take whatever you may have available to mark a 45 degree angle into your corner, a little over a 1/4". When you have sewn to the chalk mark, that is your stopping point. Pivot the quilt, and sew directly out to the corner on the marked chalk line. This will help you to obtain the crisp corner miter.

Binding folded to seam line, using a
gauge to measure the width.

3) Pull your quilt slightly away from the needle. Now fold your binding up to the sewing line. You can either eyeball this, or measure it to determine the width of the folded binding. This dimension will vary according your binding width and other minor variables.

This is the dimension you will want to use when you fold your binding up at the corner. Measure from the seam line to the edge of the fold - this is one of those little secrets to obtaining a good miter.


4) Continue sewing all the way around your quilt, stopping at least 12" from your start point, and leaving an 8 to 10" tail.

Now, I learned that there is a new gadget out there - The Binding Tool - you can put this into your search engine to find one, and there is also a demo of how to use it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex2PajesRvU

The directions for using it are printed right on the ruler - pretty handy! It makes the finishing up a piece of cake once you get the hang of it - but if you do not have one of these, here is a good method to use:

a) open up the end of the finishing tail (or use a piece of fabric the same dimension as the width of your binding - sometimes I will snip off the end of my tail if I have enough left over and use it.) Lay it across the top of the starting tail, right where the tail begins. The starting tail will be underneath, and lined up to the right edge.



b) bring your ending binding over and lay it across the top of the open piece. (This will also be over the top of the starting tail of the binding.) Now you have the dimension you will need to finish - snip off the excess tail of the end binding at the left side of the open fabric, being very careful to cut only the top piece of binding.

c) Open each of the tail ends and carefully lay them at a right angle to each other, matching up the top and sides. Draw a diagonal sewing line across and pin. Check to make sure you do not have the binding twisted in the wrong direction before you sew on the chalk line. Sew across the diagonal chalk line.

d) Before you trim the seam, check once more to insure you have not twisted the binding wrong. Trim ~1/4", and iron or finger press the seam open. Pin the remaining binding into place before sewing so as to avoid any stretching. Finish sewing it to the quilt.

5) Now to finish up, fold a section of binding over to the back side and finger press into place. Unfold and measure from the crease to the seam line. This is the dimension you will want to trim your batting and backing to, (with maybe just a smidge more - a little extra will just mean it will be folded under, but you will not have any empty binding!)


6) Trim out your corners and iron your binding up, paying attention to the miters. Sew the binding to the back of the quilt with whatever method you choose, making sure the back corner fold is on the opposite direction from the front corner fold. Your corners should have a nice miter and line up perfectly with your sewing line on the back of the quilt.

mitered corner at front of quilt

mitered corner at back of quilt

I hope this was not too confusing and that you did get a few tips that you can use. And, to each member of my quilting group, I am so thankful for you!


Until next time, Happy Quilting!
Cathy