maviskw

I agree with this. Patrick Lose never got the ends of his binding sewn together. Sharon Schambers and Kay Wood (no relation), show this, but I like my way better.

After the binding is created, sewn into strips and ready to go, (I always iron mine in half but some don't), lay it on the quilt where you want to start sewing it on. I start a foot or so from a corner. Open the binding flat and fold the left top corner down to the seam line to form a triangle. This is called a Magic Triangle. Press this fold very well. Fold the binding back in half as it would be when you sew. Start sewing about 8 inches down from this triangle. Also put a pin in the edge of the quilt about 16 inches above where you started sewing. You will have a tail loose at the beginning. Now we sew the binding all around the quilt.

First, I don't take the quilt out of the machine when I get to the corner. I sew up to a seam width from the corner (if your binding will be 3/8" wide, stop at 3/8" from the corner. Turn quilt 45 degrees and sew right into the corner, but keep the needle in the last stitch. You may have to back up one stitch to keep the needle still in fabric. Turn the quilt so that it is in position to sew down the next side. Lift folded edge of binding and pull loose binding down toward you. You've just created a big wrinkle in the binding. Pinch this wrinkle and lay it flat to the left. You've just created the perfect folded corner. If you need to, lift the needle now, but don't move the quilt too far away from the needle area. Be sure the fold in the binding is even with the last side, and edges of binding and quilt are even along the next side. Give binding a little tug so that it lies flat. Move the quilt so that the needle is at the next seam line. You will have one seam width of loose thread there. Just leave it, don't cut it off. Start sewing down the next side, no need to backstitch.

When you get to the pin from the beginning, stop and take the quilt out of the machine. Lay this last area flat and pin down the binding as you will want it to be. I always give my bindings a little tug so that they don't end up wavy, so I pull a little here, also. Lay the beginning magic triangle down and lay the end tail on top of it. They need to be overlapped when you cut off the final end. Find the base of the magic triangle, and cut the top tail here. The two pieces are overlapped at this point. Take out the pins now and open out both ends of the binding. They should be single layers now. Lift the ends up and hold them right sides together. Now twist them in opposite directions so that they form the "L" as when you sewed the strips together to make the binding. The fold of the magic triangle should run side to side, not top to bottom. Check this out carefully. Pin very carefully on both sides of the fold. It's only a short seam, but with 25 pounds of king size quilt hanging on there, it's hard to keep it straight. Sew this seam. Now pick it up and snap it so that it lays flat on the quilt. Did it work???? Now go back and open that seam allowance and then trim out the excess fabric. Opening the seam before you trim it gives you more fabric to grasp to open the seam.

Now all you have to do is sew that last 16 inches and you have your binding on. No one will be able to tell where your last seam is on the binding.