I feel your pain and I'm glad you took another try at the binding. I just send 4 placemats to my sister, Christmas presents that were late because I was afraid of the binding. I finally just took the bull by the horns and bound those suckers! They turned out great. Sis (and her semi-snobbish husband) loved them. She called yesterday and said someone else really loved them too. Fat Katherine, her cat had taken them over!