I machine stitch a double fold binding to the front, mitering the corners, wrap around to the back and hand stitch.

My understanding about binding applied by machine is that you do the opposite,, first stitch it on the back, wrap around and top stitch on the front. Although, I havent done it and Im not an expert in machine work...

Judy

I also have pain in my hands so each stitch I make is precious and I feel I shouldn't waste my efforts in something that only I will notice, so I sew my binding on the front, fold it over and stitch in the ditch. I use a matching thread just incase my stitches come out of the ditch. I do pin my binding though I'd never heard of the other stuff before. I only pin about 2 or 3 feet at a time so I can adjust it as needed.

I used the machine to bind potholders, but generally I do quilt bindings by hand. It's very hard to do it neatly by machine! You might experiment a bit to see if there is a more comfortable way for you to stitch. Turn your work upside down or hold your hand differently. I find that sewing the binding actually stresses my shoulder more than my wrist. A brace would be an excellent idea.

I agree with Loretta about wearing the brace at night. I wore it every night for a while, lately I have't had to wear it.

As for binding, mostly I do the backside by hand -- little by little. I know what you mean by others being faster. If I do by machine, I do a self binding. My sis does like Judy said-- stitch to back first. I have a hard time doing it that way which is why I self bind most of my charity quilts.

Quilterj: I also have arthritis and a calcium deposit on my right hand wrist bone. Sometimes this becomes very irritated and painful by doing hand sewing. My daughter sent me a elastized glove (Handeze) and it did help some, but I found a similar glove with a light weight velcro band that also wrapped around the wrist called a Thera-Glove in the Clotilde catalog. This one gives a lot more support but is still comfortable to work with. The latest catalog lists the Handeze at $19.95/pair and the Thera-Glove lists at $11.48 for one glove. I found the Thera-Glove provides a much better support and one glove is sufficient unless you have problems with both wrists/hands. Hope this helps you out.

Quilterj: Forgot to tell you that these gloves are also very comfortable and provides good support for when you are doing just piecing or sewing on your machine or serger. Your hands don't get so tired or achy.

What I've done to a couple quilts is stitch the binding to the back and then use a decorative stitch on the front - like top stitching. Honestly it was a bit tricky to get the stitching totally even - but since the quilts were for my granddaughter, and I knew she wasn't going to complain, they were good to practice on. I was very happy with the results, very pretty. And boy-howdy was it a quick way to get that binding on.

I use two different methods for binding. If the quilt is for show, a gift for a friend or myself I machine stitch it on to the front and hand stitch on the back. BUT if the quilt is for a child or the local nursing home then I machine stitch on the back first, fold it over to the front and machine stitch. I have a binding foot for my machine and it helps to get that front stitching very even and straight and close to the folded edge. My thinking is that utility quilts will get much heavier usage and the stitching needs to be real sturdy.

I like that decorative stitch idea, thanks.

I always stitch the back first, flip over and stitch the front with either a straight stitch or a small zigzag. It looks just fine