How many machine bind their quilts?

**jcrow** · 10-12-2012, 04:21 AM

I do not like to bind my quilts. I have 9 quilts waiting to be bound. That must tell you how much I don't like binding quilts. I want to machine bind them all.

I know they don't look as good. I know that 100%. My LQS owner bound my last quilt and she machine bound it with flowers and it looked wonderful. I want to try it. It wasn't a straight stitch, so it didn't matter that it wasn't straight all the way around.

It was a wide flowery stitch, about 1/4" wide. What is your opinion? I use to hand bind years and years and years ago. I need these done by Christmas and the only way I will get them done is to machine sew them.

I even send them out to be bound (shame on me). But I want to do it myself and machine sew them. Is that so awful? The people they are going to don't quilt. So they won't know the difference.

**MamaBear61** · 10-12-2012, 04:29 AM

I have done machine binding when I was on a time crunch too. Make a little practise sandwich and try a few different stitches to see what look you like. When I did mine I sewed the binding from the back first so that I was putting the decorative stitch on the top side and this let me have a little more control over the placement of the stitch (less critical on the backside). Good luck.

**QuiltnNan** · 10-12-2012, 05:32 AM

Originally Posted by MamaBear61

I have done machine binding when I was on a time crunch too. Make a little practise sandwich and try a few different stitches to see what look you like. When I did mine I sewed the binding from the back first so that I was putting the decorative stitch on the top side and this let me have a little more control over the placement of the stitch (less critical on the backside). Good luck.

this is the way i do it when i don't have time to hand sew the binding

**karenpatrick** · 10-13-2012, 04:42 AM

Originally Posted by MamaBear61

I have done machine binding when I was on a time crunch too. Make a little practise sandwich and try a few different stitches to see what look you like. When I did mine I sewed the binding from the back first so that I was putting the decorative stitch on the top side and this let me have a little more control over the placement of the stitch (less critical on the backside). Good luck.

I agree. This is how I do it. If you are going to put your quilt in a show, I wouldn't recommend it. Judges don't like it at all. But if they are for gifts or for your own use, go ahead and do it. My Babylock has losts of decorative stitches and I always find something I lilke that seems to go with the quilt. It's your quilt and you can do anything you want with it.

**MS quilter** · 10-13-2012, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by MamaBear61

I have done machine binding when I was on a time crunch too. Make a little practise sandwich and try a few different stitches to see what look you like. When I did mine I sewed the binding from the back first so that I was putting the decorative stitch on the top side and this let me have a little more control over the placement of the stitch (less critical on the backside). Good luck.

This is what I do all the time. I HATE hand binding myself. I like it when other people do it, though.

**wildyard** · 10-14-2012, 09:31 AM

I always machine bind my quilts. I cannot do the hand sewing due to physical restraints. I have made a lot of quilts in the 2.5 years I've been quilting and have not had one complaint about the machine binding. Sometimes I use the decorative stitches, sometimes a straight stitch. It depends on the style of the quilt.
One thing I like to do if it works with the stitch pattern is to make it longer so the zigzag is further apart than the stitch design is meant to be. This stretches the pattern over a longer distance and uses less thread.
It doesn't work well on flowers but is great on leaves and can be done on hearts to a moderate degree. Just try it on scrap till you find what works for you. I use fleece for backings so the tight zigzag sometimes will bind up in the fleece.

**AlienQuilter** · 10-12-2012, 04:30 AM

You could make the binding wider, like 3 inches, don't press in half but do fold in half, and sew on the back of the quilt, then flip to top and use one of the pretty stitches to stitch it down. The reason why I said wider, this way you get past the seam on the back and you won't be sewing on and off of it which does not look nice. Your stitches on top will appear on the backing. Choose a busy print and it won't be so noticeable. But, pulling the binding to the top, you will see exactly where the seam is on the backside and make sure you pull it enough over that you will be past that.

Someone else posted about not pressing the binding because the crease needs to be flexible.

A lot of times I like to make a wide backing especially when using fleece, flannel or minkee, and pull the backing to the top of the quilt and hem it down. There are several ways to decrease the bulk on the corners. You can google it if interested.

**majormom** · 10-12-2012, 06:41 AM

Originally Posted by AlienQuilter

You could make the binding wider, like 3 inches, don't press in half but do fold in half, and sew on the back of the quilt, then flip to top and use one of the pretty stitches to stitch it down. The reason why I said wider, this way you get past the seam on the back and you won't be sewing on and off of it which does not look nice. Your stitches on top will appear on the backing. Choose a busy print and it won't be so noticeable. But, pulling the binding to the top, you will see exactly where the seam is on the backside and make sure you pull it enough over that you will be past that.

Someone else posted about not pressing the binding because the crease needs to be flexible.

A lot of times I like to make a wide backing especially when using fleece, flannel or minkee, and pull the backing to the top of the quilt and hem it down. There are several ways to decrease the bulk on the corners. You can google it if interested.

Your advice about making the binding wide enough to go past the seam on the back when sewing the binding on the front is excellent. I will remember this the next time I want to sew the binding totally on the machine. Thanks!! :-)

**laurafet** · 10-12-2012, 04:31 AM

I do, almost all of mine. I use purchased bias binding a lot too. I pin everything so it comes out nice. Sew on the back side first, then wrap to the front and topstitch. I have used decorative stitches on a few, but mostly just a straight stitch.

**cattailsquilts** · 10-12-2012, 04:31 AM

I machine bind all the time, because my hands just can't take the hand-sewn binding. I will sew my binding to the back of the quilt & then bring it around to the front, then I topstitch at the edge of the binding using blending top & bobbin threads.

I truly admire those of you who can hand quilt!

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