binding question
03-25-2021, 03:52 PM
#11
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: North Idaho
Posts: 1,695
I don't find that "walking" it around the top does me any good. it seems that i mis-estimate the length needed to miter the corners or the binding gets too short or too loose laying it around the edges. seems that I have an equal chance of getting seams in the corners whether or not I do this. so I just skip the step and if there's a seam, oh well. it hasn't made much difference in the end.
03-25-2021, 06:16 PM
#13
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Canada
Posts: 3,460
There is a "magic" length where to start your binding but unfortunately
I can't remember that magic number. So I just go by trial and error....
usually about a 10-12"from the corner. Then I walk the binding all around
to make sure I got it right. If not I move it a little. Seems to work pretty well.
If someone knows the magic number, please do tell.
I can't remember that magic number. So I just go by trial and error....
usually about a 10-12"from the corner. Then I walk the binding all around
to make sure I got it right. If not I move it a little. Seems to work pretty well.
If someone knows the magic number, please do tell.
03-26-2021, 03:20 AM
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Portage, Michigan
Posts: 7,797
I agree. I am in admiration of the math, but my head is spinning and my eyes and brain are tired. More often than not I just start my binding mid way down the side of the quilt and start sewing. This works well except with those lovely scrappy bindings then I just take it as it comes or adjust as I go to avoid the seam bulk in the corner.
03-26-2021, 03:33 AM
#16
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Boothbay Maine
Posts: 9,518
I am a math Nerd so I do appreciate platyhiker’s post and may use the idea down the road but since I do a lot of lap and crib quilts, I haven’t had any problem just auditioning my bindings by dragging them around the quilt. I am dying to do a scrappy binding someday and I can see more of an issue ther.
03-26-2021, 05:58 AM
#17
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 1,052
I am a math Nerd so I do appreciate platyhiker’s post and may use the idea down the road but since I do a lot of lap and crib quilts, I haven’t had any problem just auditioning my bindings by dragging them around the quilt. I am dying to do a scrappy binding someday and I can see more of an issue ther.
Scrappy bindings are so much fun. I do a lot of donation quilts for kids and do scrappy bindings often. If you join on the diagonal and press your binding seams open before folding I think you will find there is very little bulk. I have had the seam turn up on the corner often and it really doesn’t matter. And yes, I’m picky about how the binding looks.
03-26-2021, 07:50 AM
#18
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 1,866
Tartan is right that for most people and that walking the binding around the quilt is going to be faster than doing the calculations.
Being both a math nerd and a programmer, I continued to mull on the whole question and came up with a spreadsheet that does the calculations. This allows one to calculate quickly easily where the seems will end up in any size (rectangular or square) quilt (assuming consistent intervals between the seams in the binding). If anybody would like a copy, just send me a private message with your e-mail address and I can send it to you. Amusingly, the spreadsheet shows that I made two errors in my calculations for the example (Seam 5 position is 68; Seam 9 position is 54), which illustrates that math majors are not always good at arithmetic. (In college, I like the really abstract math that didn't use numbers much - rings, groups, fields! I don't know what you do with most of that type of math - I went into the computer field after college, but boy that math is beautiful to me. Fast and accurate mental arithmetic is not my forté.)
For anybody who want to do the calculations on their own (without a spreadsheet), here is what to do.
1. Write the the number of inches between each of your seams in the binding (42 in the example
2. Write down your starting position. (40 in the example)
3. Add the number from #1 to the number from #2. (40 + 42 = 82)
Repeat step 3 (using the new number in place of the number from #2) as many times as you need to get back to first side and get a seam position that is greater than the starting position.
(Make sure you adjust the side length you use when you switch to a new side. Also, make sure you complete all of the fourth side and get back onto the first side - it will sorta seem like starting a fifth side as you do the calculations.)
You now have a list of all the seam positions. Look them over and see if them are within the range that you consider to be "too close" to a corner. If you've got one or more that are unacceptable, try again with a different starting position.
I expect many people eyes have glazed over (or stopped reading) well before now. It was a fun exercise for me to figure how to make the calculations and then how to describe in spreadsheet formulas and prose. Thanks for humoring me in my nerdiness.
Being both a math nerd and a programmer, I continued to mull on the whole question and came up with a spreadsheet that does the calculations. This allows one to calculate quickly easily where the seems will end up in any size (rectangular or square) quilt (assuming consistent intervals between the seams in the binding). If anybody would like a copy, just send me a private message with your e-mail address and I can send it to you. Amusingly, the spreadsheet shows that I made two errors in my calculations for the example (Seam 5 position is 68; Seam 9 position is 54), which illustrates that math majors are not always good at arithmetic. (In college, I like the really abstract math that didn't use numbers much - rings, groups, fields! I don't know what you do with most of that type of math - I went into the computer field after college, but boy that math is beautiful to me. Fast and accurate mental arithmetic is not my forté.)
For anybody who want to do the calculations on their own (without a spreadsheet), here is what to do.
1. Write the the number of inches between each of your seams in the binding (42 in the example
2. Write down your starting position. (40 in the example)
3. Add the number from #1 to the number from #2. (40 + 42 = 82)
Is the number greater than length current side of the quilt? (92 in the example)
If yes, then subtract the length current side of the quilt, and write that number down. (And you are now on a new side of the quilt.)
If no, then write that number down.
(So, write down the 82).
The number you wrote down is where the seam positioned.If yes, then subtract the length current side of the quilt, and write that number down. (And you are now on a new side of the quilt.)
If no, then write that number down.
(So, write down the 82).
Repeat step 3 (using the new number in place of the number from #2) as many times as you need to get back to first side and get a seam position that is greater than the starting position.
(Make sure you adjust the side length you use when you switch to a new side. Also, make sure you complete all of the fourth side and get back onto the first side - it will sorta seem like starting a fifth side as you do the calculations.)
You now have a list of all the seam positions. Look them over and see if them are within the range that you consider to be "too close" to a corner. If you've got one or more that are unacceptable, try again with a different starting position.
I expect many people eyes have glazed over (or stopped reading) well before now. It was a fun exercise for me to figure how to make the calculations and then how to describe in spreadsheet formulas and prose. Thanks for humoring me in my nerdiness.
03-26-2021, 07:53 AM
#19
Power Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southern USA
Posts: 16,384
When I first started quilting I use to fret over the join seams being at a corner. Realizing that it is only a quilt police rule for no reason other then maybe a judge to justify one quilt better then the next I said forget that. I have not noticed any problem with mitering the corner if the join seam is in there. I press my join seams open.
