Originally Posted by diogirl
ok I just pressed my binding in half..... did I just screw up? I haven't added to the quilt yet.. I'm just confused...
I think people are misunderstanding when to press and when not to press.
To start at the beginning, you cut a strip of fabric for the binding and press that strip in half, right fabric sides showing, so that the raw edges are together. That is where people press and starch their binding.
You sew this strip to your quilt, matching raw edges with raw edges. (Whether you sew to the front first or to the back first is a matter of personal preference and also depends somewhat on how you plan to finish the binding. Traditionally, if you are planning to hand sew the binding in place, you machine sew to the front and hand sew to the back. If you plan to machine finish the binding, it is often done the other way.)
You do *not* press the strip before folding it to the other side. You want to leave the binding edge full and puffy, not flat with a knife edge. Also, quilt judges look for the binding to be nicely filled with batting and not just flat.
HTH!