Originally Posted by
maviskw
I LOVE putting the binding on. It's the finishing touch. And I have come to REALLY LOVE putting the ends together. First I press a triangle at the beginning. Starch this and maybe pin it, too. I start sewing it on leaving a loose tail 8 - 10 inches. After you have a few inches sewn, put a pin in the quilt 8 - 10 inches beyond the beginning of the binding. That would be 16 - 20 inches from the place you started sewing. That is where you will stop when you get around the quilt. Then I pin down the binding exactly as I want it when it is sewn. I usually stretch a binding just a little. That prevents the edge of the quilt from becoming wavy. Then lay the ends one over the other, with pressed triangle on the bottom. Cut the other end EXACTLY at the bottom of the triangle. You will have the two layers overlapped exactly as far as the binding is wide. Take out all the pins, open the triangle and open out binding. Place ends right sides together, and twist so that the binding pieces are at right angles. Sew across the ends on that fold you pressed in at the beginning. If the fold is going from top to bottom, just twist it the other way. The seam has to go from side to side. Now snap open the binding to see if it fits. Then open that last seam and finger press. (It's kind of hard to press with the iron here unless you have one of those little things.) Then cut off the triangles of the seam allowance and continue sewing down the last bit of binding to your quilt. You will never be able to tell which binding seam is your last one this way. I find it very exciting to see how nicely this finishes up my quilt. HAPPY BINDING!
This sounds really exciting!! I have so much trouble at the end of binding. So I kind of get what you are saying. Both pieces need to be the same length as width, right? Now, that makes complete sense. I would never have thought of that in a million years. I would love to see a step by step instruction on this method though, just to make sure I have it right. I understand not to cut it after I sew to make sure I sewed it side to side and not up and down and also to make sure it fits snugly.
After reading all those posts, I'm kind of excited to bind my 9 quilts. Well, not all 9 at once. And I think it's 10 now that my king is finished. And I have one coming back from the long armers really soon and have a baby quilt I have to hurry and make. So, I do like the hand sewing on binding better than machine sewing and I do watch TV at night, so there is the perfect time for me. I don't drink, so no fun wine to go with it. I guess I could have hot flavored tea. Yummmm! What I want to do is my king first and I probably shouldn't start on such a big one at first because I'll get burnt out. I have one that I already cut the binding, attached it, ironed it in half and it's sitting there. All I have to do is roll it up on my Simplicity's The Winder. OMG! You all have me wanting to bind, and hand bind at that!
Thank you all so very much. I didn't think anyone could talk me into wanting to bind but you all did. And if I decided to machine bind it to the front instead of hand bind it to the back, I will be happy as can be because I will be binding just the same. Thank you thank you thank you! Truly!!!!