Quilting42: Binding Your Quilt

I have been binding quilts for about 3 decades now and I think I have landed on an easy, fast binding. I had a stack of quilts that needed binding, so I thought I would share how I bind my everyday quilts.

Now this is all done on my sewing machine. I only hand sew binding if I am planning on hanging that quilt on my wall.

BINDING THE EASY FAST WAY

1. Cut binding 2.25 inches x width of fabric. Make sure your quilt it trimmed and free of strings.

2. Join binding by taking two strips right sides together at a 45 degree angle. I chain sew all strips together in one go.

3. Trim off excess fabric to 1/4 inch and press in one direction.

4. I sew my binding first to the back of the quilt, then to the front. Fold binding in half and line it up with the edge of your quilt.

5. Start sewing at about12inches from the bottom of any side of your quilt. Leave a generous tail of binding which will be used to connect to the other end. Begin sewing binding to the back of your quilt using a quarter inch seam.

6. When you get to 1/4inch away from the end of the quilt, STOP. Place the needle down and lift your presser foot. Turn the quilt 45 degrees and sew off the quilt. Cut thread.

7. This is the fun part! Because you have sewn a 45 degree angle, the next step is super easy. With your right hand fold binding away from quilt, making a nice 45 degree miter, then fold the binding back onto the quilt. Line it up with the edge of the quilt.

8. I start quilting about 1/4 of an inch in on this new side. Repeat until you have completely circled your quilt. Stop sewing when there is a 12inch space from where you first began. Move the quilt to a flat surface.

9. Now I make a ruler out of my binding. This is done by cutting off an end or selvage. Make sure the tail is trimmed and is longer than half of the empty un-sewn area.

10. Lay the tail flat onto the edge of the quilt. Place the other end of the binding on top of the tail. We need an over lap of the exact size of our binding. By using the fabric ruler as a guide we can cut off the excess binding.

11. Now take your quilt and fold it together at the gap where the binding has not been sewn yet. This will make the next step easier.

12. Take both end of the binding and lay them at 45 degree angle. Sew, then trim seam allowance to 1/4inch.