Prism99

I used to only hand bind; now I almost always machine bind. Machine binding can look very, very good. One of the keys for me is to avoid a straight stitch. I find that a decorative stitch can look very nice, but be careful not to choose one that takes a *lot* of time to sew out. I think it is a good idea to make several binding samples with different stitch types so you can see not only what they look like, but also how long they take to stitch out and how much thread they take. So far I have done mainly a serpentine stitch on the binding (with stitch pattern centered on the binding edge), but the next one is going to be a plain zigzag.

On my next quilt, I am going to glue-baste the mitered corners in place (and several inches before and after the corner) before maching stitching. I think this will help a *lot* to ensure that the corners come out nice. On a small quilt or an important quilt I might glue baste the entire binding, similar to what Sharon Schamber does, but on the ones I have done so far that hasn't been at all necessary.

My biggest problem so far has been the quilt corners, and I think the glue-basting before sewing is going to take care of that minor issue.

Edit: I just realized I do something else that seems to make binding go much easier. I don't cut the quilt edges before I machine sew the binding to the quilt sandwich for the first time. That way I don't have to worry about a distorted or stretched edge, or a flap of backing getting turned the wrong way. Instead of cutting, I use a Sharpie permanent marker to *mark* the cutting edge. (If I accidentally do this on the wrong side of the quilt, I follow this up by machine stitching along the cutting line with a contrasting thread, so I can see the cutting line on either side of the quilt.) When I sew the binding on, I match up the cut edges of the binding to the cutting line. Only after the binding is sewn on do I trim the quilt along the cutting line. Just be absolutely *sure* not to cut the binding at the corners! I often like to trim the tip of the batting off at the corner; just do *not* trim any of the binding there. You will not like the results!