madamekelly

How to that works for me-
First I always use bias binding. It is more forgiving of my limitations. To sew a corner- Sew to the 1/4” mark at the corner. I do actually stop about 4” from the end of the side, and Mark where my 1/4” dot would be, (Mark it by spinning a pencil on the spot) then put it back under the needle, and sew to the dot. When you get to the dot, leave the needle down in fabric, (take your foot off the foot pedal for safety) and turn the fabric and then reverse sew off the fabric to the corner and off the fabric. Cut thread at this point. (Sewing off at the corner makes a better miter for me). Now lay your loose binding at a 45 degree angle to the right side (think right side only of a “T”) and holding a skewer (or other skinny straight tool) at the edge of the fabric, and fold the binding back over itself. Now the binding should be laying along the new side. If not, fidget a bit until it is. Strarting off the fabric, I sew along the new edge for about six inches. Cut thread, and check to see that your binding will flip nicely to the back and show a nice miter on the right side. If it does, you can continue sewing that side, if not unsew and try again. This is easier to practicing either on a small quilt, or as I did, I used a piece of prequilted fabric (garage sale left overs from another sewer). (I bought it just to practice on. If I messed it up, no hard work lost. I just cut about eight inch squares to practice on.) spend an afternoon just making metered corner binding until you find how it will work for you. Trying to learn to do miter on an actual hard won, hand made, quilt sandwich, and knowing how much I can “slip” with the seam ripper, I used this method. Now I can just stitch to the quarter inch, fold and start stitching again, and no worries.
FYI- I make nice bindings on all of my quilts now, but it took lots practice and the knowledge that bias bindings do not get sloppy and oversized when I turn to sew them down. None of the uneven tucking I had to do on the first two I did with straight grain binding. Others make fabulous straight grain binding everyday, but it just did not work for me. I learned a “ fold and cut” method for cutting bias binding, so it is easy for me. Keep trying. : )