Originally Posted by
Tartan
Once my double fold binding is sewn to the front, I press the edge along the quilt so it completely lays flat. I find it is easier then to fold to the back.
I do this, too. This step does help.
The bottom line - whatever works for you.
For me, because I prefer bias binding - I've found that if I lay the binding out on the ironing board, fold it to make sure that it is laying smoothly , pin the edges together, and then machine baste it about 1/8 inch from the edge with a longish, shallow zig-zag stitch is worth the effort to me. Sometimes I have to do a bit of "smoothing" to get the areas where the joins are to lay the way I want them to.
When I skipped this step, sometimes one layer would creep ahead of the other layer - even with a walking foot - and I did not care for the wrinkles/puckers that occurred in the binding. I also sew the edges of the quilt sandwich together about 1/8 inch from the edge.
That way I only have to worry about "matching" "two" sets of edges.
Maybe I am making way too much work for myself - but I am pleased with how my bindings turn out.