Hi everyone, I am tying to finish my first shop hop quilt, my question is how wide can I or should I make my binding. Would it be wrong to make the self binding 1 1/2" wide? I am stitching in the ditch, then I can do my binding.Thanks for any suggestions and help :D

sorry, the pic is so big

It is your quilt, you are free do to what you want too for binding.

I usually cut typical bindings at 2 inches, sometimes 2 1/4. But one of the best parts about quilting is you can do what you want, and get the results that you want! If you don't end up liking the result, you will know what not to do next time.

Also, if you haven't checked out the binding tutorial by Sharon Schamber, I highly recommend it. She's a wonderful teacher, and her method is extremely helpful to do a quality binding. Here's the link:

http://sharonschambernetwork.com/fre...gel/index.html

Post your completed project so we can see what you ended up with!

k, thanks, I am keeping this quilt because it is my first offical quilt I did myself. Not to mention one or two little error's. It will be loved by me big binding or not. I wouldn't mind having it a as large as I can make it, but concerned a big binding may look funny. Good to know I can do what I want though, I love that option :thumbup:

will post pic when I finish it and see what ya think!

If you have some scrap, make a sandwich of the top, batting, and backing, and do a little practicing - see how it goes. Bias binding handles a little differently than binding cut on the grain, too.

As someone said earlier, it's your quilt - my bindings usually finish at almost 1/2 inch wide - I just prefer the heftier look - and it works perfectly with one of my machine settings.

And almost everyone learns something new every time they do something different. Sometimes even when making something again - usually about half way through and the change in technique would show.

Self binding is a fun and economical way to bind. My reference says to leave twice the desired finished binding width plus 1/4" for a seam allowance. For example, for a 1/2" finished binding, cut the backing so it extends 1-1/4" beyond the seam line.

Here's a tutorial that is helpful: http://www.whatididatschooltoday.com...ory_a_qui.html

Thanks and thanks for the tutorial, that was great. Now I need to find the time to do this. :D

The tutorial was helpful -

When the back of the quilt is brought to the front and turned under - that is called "self-binding"?

My Grandma B did that a lot. She used all sorts of widths.