Originally Posted by LucyInTheSky
I was told to NOT press the binding. The reason being, when you press, you're dividing the binding evenly in half. But, when you attach the binding, and pull it to the back to stitch it down, there's a little more than half of the material on the piece you see, and less than half on the piece you don't see, since the visible piece has to cover more distance.
that's what i was also taught. the top layer takes more fabric (it's called the rollover) than the under layer. if you press first the press line is wonky.
if you want to sew your binding by machine, stitch the binding on the back, raw edges together. now, PRESS ONLY AT THE PLACE WHERE THE LINE OF STITCHING MEETS THE QUILT. PRESS THE BINDING AWAY FROM THE BODY OF THE QUILT. DO NOT PRESS THE BINDING. VERY IMPORTANT. roll the binding over, unpressed, to the front just letting the stitch line show, so the binding is now just back toward the raw edge of the quilt. . using the blindstitch or hemstitch feature on your machine, follow that line of stitching so that only the stitch that jumps over catches the very edge of the binding that was folded over to the front. the reason you pressed the back away was to expose the stitching line so that when you stitched from the front, you didn't stitch unevenly over the binding. everything stays goodlooking front and back with no stitching showing. with your fingers, roll the back binding back over where you pressed it away. it should look really good. i've only done this with doubled binding,
not double fold.