I cut mine 2 1/2" wide. And sew with a "wide 1/4" seam". That means (to me) that rather than a scant seam, I go about the same distance the other way so I have slightly more than 1/4" seam in the end. probalby almost 3/8, now that I think about my trimming activity (I attach binding, then trim).

I trim my sandwich after the binding has been attached to the sides. Usually, I leave a bit of extra batting past the quilt top so my binding is nice and full. The seam allowance is more than 1/4 - whatever the distance to my walking foot is - I never measured.

I sew my binding to the front and also use the edge of the walking foot. I hand stitch to the back for I cannot sew a straight line :)

This is what I do too, for quilts with cotton tops and bottoms and Warm & Natural batting. I cut the strips 2 1/4". After I sew it to the front wit a 1/4" seam, I press it to set it, then press it so the binding is pressed back, then press it a 3rd time with the binding folded over. Sounds like it would take a lot of time, but it's not that bad. If I do this, I usually don't even pin and don't have any skipped areas.

How wide your ideal seam allowance would be depends on how wide you cut your binding strips and how thick your batting is. As a rule-of-thumb, when I cut 2.5" strips I sew a 3/8" seam on the binding. My typical batting is Hobbs 80/20. If you are using a very thin batting, you might want a larger seam allowance; if using a very thick batting, a narrower seam allowance.

Be aware that the size of the seam allowance affects the look of the finished binding. I would not sew more than a 3/8" wide seam allowance because anything wider than that makes the binding too wide for my taste. For show quilts, narrower bindings are preferred, which typically requires cutting 2-1/4" strips and using a 1/4" seam allowance.

I recently cut mu binding strips 2-1/2" wide, fold in half, press and sew on the front using 3/8" seam and hand stitch to the back. Turns out perfect. I like the hand sewn better. Good luck, some on here machine sew it.

Copy & pasted this from an e-mail I received today (Aboutquilting.com)

While We're Talking About Binding<Q>http://0.tqn.com/d/quilting/1/6/4/0/..._binding_2.jpg</Q><CITE>© Janet Wickell</CITE>


One of my biggest binding pet peeves concerns the binding instructions that many quilting authors have traditionally written. I've cautioned quilters on this since I began writing quilting books in the 1990s, but still see incorrect instructions everywhere.

[h=3]The Real Deal[/h]When preparing to miter binding at the corner of a quilt, the point where you should stop and backstitch must be a distance equal to the finished width of the binding.

Nearly all patterns tell you to stop 1/4" away from the quilt's edge. That's correct if you are sewing a 1/4" finished width binding, and that width is a must if quilt blocks surround the outer edges of the quilt, since they have a built-in 1/4" seam. What if you have a border, where the width of binding is arbitrary? I've made lots of miniature quilts with 1/8" bindings, and larger quilts with 1/2" bindings. Try stopping 1/4" from the edge of those quilts and you'll end up with a messy (if not impossible to construct) mitered corner. Stop sewing at the point that matches your finished binding width and the miter will create itself, almost automatically.

I believe Sharon Schamber demonstrates how to glue-baste binding in her Youtube tutorials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PE0Yq9iGlc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3vHI7rgZpw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W--xgi4nux8

Trick question! I sew a scant 1/2" in from the edge of the batting, but 1/4" in from the edge of the binding. That gives me a nice full 1/2" binding, using 2.5" double fold. Confused yet?

Machine sewing to th front and then hand stitching to the back is the easiest method for me. On a big quilt, it takes about 45 minutes per side of the quilt to complete and looks really nice when done. I can watch television and bind and I find it very relaxing and one of my favorite parts of quilting.