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do you hate hand sewing down your binding

do you hate hand sewing down your binding

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Old 09-14-2014, 12:18 PM
  #21  
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Not all of us are physically able to do hand stitching, so I get pretty irritated when someone implies I don't care about a quilt I am making if I don't hand stitch the binding. The arthritis and carpal tunnel (both!) in my hands just won't let me do quality hand work, and I am not going to do lousy hand work. I sew my bindings to the back, flip them over, and then do a decorative stitch to attach the front. My favorite is a feather stitch, but I have used others. Sewn this way they are robust and easy to care for. Most people comment very positively on the decorative stitching too.

Note the main charity I quilt for, Quilts for Kids, requires machine sewing on bindings because it stands up to the hospital washing machines.

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Old 09-14-2014, 12:19 PM
  #22  
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I enjoy hand stitching the binding. It's the final step to a finished quilt!
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Old 09-14-2014, 12:27 PM
  #23  
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Originally Posted by SweatyPie View Post
To me, the quilt is instantly worth less when someone doesn't care enough to handstitch the binding. I know others may differ, but that's how I feel on the topic.
Unfortunately some people have arthritis and can't do a lot of hand sewing. Who are you to judge people and how well their quilts are made. We do the best we can for the hobby we love to do.
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Old 09-14-2014, 12:59 PM
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I will try this the next binding I do. A lot of the time I will use a decorative stitch to sew the binding have half the stitch on the quilt and half on the binding. I then do another of the same stitch on the binding itself. I don't use overly stuffed binding for this. I started to use only bias binding too. It doesn't wear away as fast as straight gain binding. It's as easy to make it bias as cutting strips using this method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO7iTP1MSsY
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Old 09-14-2014, 01:01 PM
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Originally Posted by SweatyPie View Post
To me, the quilt is instantly worth less when someone doesn't care enough to handstitch the binding. I know others may differ, but that's how I feel on the topic.
What a joyless way to feel.
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Old 09-14-2014, 01:32 PM
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Originally Posted by SweatyPie View Post
To me, the quilt is instantly worth less when someone doesn't care enough to handstitch the binding. I know others may differ, but that's how I feel on the topic.
I think you haven"t quilted enough to say someone doesn't care enough or make the quilt instantly worthless. Ask the people who have lost their home or are sick and have been given quilts made with binding completely sewn on, whether they think the quilts are worthless. Like others have said sometimes it is necessary to bind by machine.
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Old 09-14-2014, 02:17 PM
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I love all hand work, and am grateful I'm able to sew by hand even with arthritis.
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Old 09-14-2014, 02:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Onebyone View Post
What a joyless way to feel.
I whole heartedly agree. Pretty judgementalcomment
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Old 09-14-2014, 02:29 PM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by SweatyPie View Post
To me, the quilt is instantly worth less when someone doesn't care enough to handstitch the binding. I know others may differ, but that's how I feel on the topic.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think it could have been expressed in a less rude and hurtful way.

I, for one, think this method is worth a try. I am no fan of hand sewing binding, but have yet to find a machine method I like the looks of. I'll give this one a try and see how it goes.
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Old 09-14-2014, 02:56 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by Onebyone View Post
I will try this the next binding I do. A lot of the time I will use a decorative stitch to sew the binding have half the stitch on the quilt and half on the binding. I then do another of the same stitch on the binding itself. I don't use overly stuffed binding for this. I started to use only bias binding too. It doesn't wear away as fast as straight gain binding. It's as easy to make it bias as cutting strips using this method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO7iTP1MSsY
I used to do kind of like this until I found this method:
http://piraterodgers.com/tutorials/cbt/index.htm
With this method you end up with the strips already sewn together so it's one long strip of binding. It's only hard the first time you do it, after that it's a piece of cake. I'm in love with striped bias binding so I buy several 1/2yds at a time and do them up ahead of time. When I need binding I just go to my drawer and find one in the right color.

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