Selvages when joining strips at 45*
 

When doing joins for straight grain binding, I like to leave the Selvages on the ends to aid in sewing the 45*. I let the selvages make an X on both sides, put the first X at my needle and the second X on the line on my painters tape. This gives a nice way to sew a perfect 45* and I trim away the extra with the selvages down to my 1/4 inch seam. I also chain piece the binding joins.[ATTACH=CONFIG]545520[/ATTACH]

Great idea to have the straight line on the painters tape. I leave them on too, but my reasoning is to assure my fabric is always joined the right direction. Some fabric designs do not matter but you do not have to worry about directional fabric if you always join the "white" (and printed) side of selvage to the "colored " or plain side.

I am going to try to load 7 pictures of how I get a perfect 45* join when I sew my 2-1/4 inch double fold binding on. Picture 1 shows to leave about 8-10 inches at the joining spot so you have some room to work. Smooth out the right side binding and cut it where you want the the join to be.[ATTACH=CONFIG]545531[/ATTACH]

Picture 2 show how I cut off about a 1 inch piece from my extra binding length and placed it above the right side binding edge, I pin it in place.[ATTACH=CONFIG]545532[/ATTACH]

Picture 3 is smoothing the left side binding over the right side binding and marking the end where it meets the end of the 1 inch piece above the binding. This is where I will cut the left side binding so it is the exact length needed.[ATTACH=CONFIG]545533[/ATTACH]

Picture 4 show how I take the cut left side binding and open it up and put it the correct fabric side up. The right side binding is opened up and placed right side of the fabric down.[ATTACH=CONFIG]545534[/ATTACH]

Picture 5 shows how they are pinned one on top of the other at a right angle and the 45* is marked for sewing on the line. I always have to fold the quilt up at this point so it is easier to pin and sew on the line.[ATTACH=CONFIG]545535[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]545536[/ATTACH]Picture 6 shows how I always fold out my binding and make sure it lays perfectly flat and I pin along the 10 inches to make sure it is a perfect fit before trimming off the extra at 1/4 inch seam allowance.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]545537[/ATTACH]Picture 7 TA DA! A perfect binding sewn on. I am ready to iron it to the back and hand sew it now, bye.