Ok ... found another mistake. At some point I must have flipped my strips because not all of the seams go in the same direction (although they are all on the same side of the fabric now). So looking across the strip the 4 seams are oriented like this \ \ / \
I'm not fixing that.
AND ... I saw the tute that someone posted ... link to the continuous binding where you make an offset tube. GENIUS!! I must try that the next time.
Thanks everyone.