Ok so I have a porblem with binding. How do you know what size of binding to use? I have put my binding on by machine and it goes well till I try to turn it over and put it on the other side. I get off the binding and on the quilt. Any suggestions. All the tutorials I have seen is about hand stitching the the binding down. I haven't got very good at that either. I see quilts that have such pretty binding that look like a perfect cord and mine is flat. Thank you all so much for your advice and insturctions.

I don't do it the way everyone else does. I'm sure the quilt police would tar and feather me.

I don't stitch from the back side. When I flip the material over, I pin and stitch in the ditch at the edge of the binding. I then (still on the front side, use that last line as a guide and put in another 1/4" line just below the last one. If measured and pinned properly, you'll barely have excess on the back side where you were near the edge.

I'm not sure if that makes sense. Batteries in the camera are dead, so I can't take pics.

Basically, you end up with two lines============ instead of 1 ---------- on the binding.

I cut my strips 2.5 inches wof and sew them together. I don't like the wasted fabric cutting on the bias. When it is long enough I press it folded in half lenghtwise. Leave an edge hanging about 8 inches long and attach it to the top of the quilt (raw edges together) by machine. You have to fold the corners to mitter them. When I am approaching the hanging edge I started with, I leave a few inches hanging. I now overlap the two loose ends for 0.5 inches and cut. I open them, place them right sides together and sew. When you are done, they will lay against the quilt and you will never be able to tell where you artarted attaching the binding. Remember, all these was to on the top of the quilt with the machine. Now you are going to fold the binding to the back of the quilt and with an invisible stitch attach the folded end of the binding to the back of the quilt. If I am making a quilt that will be used and washed I use tight and short stitches. For a wallhanging I use larger stitches. It takes me about 2 hours to bind a queen size quilt.

Clear as mud?

Maria

Here's a Youtube video that shows a machine binding technique I want to try on my next quilt. It should result in an "invisible" binding similar to Harriet Hargrave's invisible machine applique, especially if you use invisible thread to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wprg5vzkuGw

Flatness in a binding occurs when the batting is not "filling" the binding enough. This happens when you cut the binding strips too wide. It has to do with the ratio of binding to batting that will be covered. The binding should be tight enough, when you turn it, that the batting completely fills the binding. Actually, I think it works better if the batting overfills the binding slightly. When you pull the binding to the front, the batting has to roll a little bit to accommodate; the binding feels a little short.

I make strips like Maride does. I sew it to the front then hand stitch it on the back. Doesn't take long at all.

Sybil

I do mine like Maria does. If you are getting "flat" area I think your binding is to wide for the width of seam you are sewing it to the quilt with...well that sounds kinda muddy. Are you trying to put wider binding on your quilts?

I do the same binding as Maria and Sharon. I read somewhere that on old quilts it's always the binding that wears out first so this double binding is stronger; Also you just have the folded edge to slip stitch down - no fiddly turning under; I don't even pin, just fold over as I sew.

K x

Me too. I make sure there is enough batting left on the edges to "pad" my binding so it isn't flat. I like the hand sewing. I can do it while I watch TV at night.

Hey great idea, must try that next time I bind...

K x

After you have sewn the binding on one side of the quilt, flip back the binding from the seam, put fusible thread (called Thread Fuse) in the bobbin and sew a 1/4 zig zag along the quilt edge. Then flip the binding over and press down. This will keep the binding in place so it's easy to machine sew or hand stitch. I've done this so much I now just do a zig zag stitch along the edge with regular thread that gives me a nice flat edge to flip the binding over.