Synnove

I have always bound my quilts by sewing binding on the front with a quarter inch seam, turning the binding to the back, and hand stitching it down. I'm making a baby quilt and would like it to be as durable as possible, so am thinking of doing the entire job by machine. When binding is cut 2.5 inches wide, then folded in half lengthwise, then sewn to the front with a quarter inch seam and turned to the back, what's on the back is wider than what's on the front. Would you take a wider seam on the front so that the binding on the front and back would be the same width? I want the second stitching to show as little as possible on the front side. Thanks for any help.

pocoellieagain

I don't like doing binding by machine, I sew to front, hand stitch it down, then I top stitch the binding, just my method, I'm sure you'll have others giving their opinions.

bearisgray

I would do some practice runs to see what works for me.

Make a few sample sandwiches about 4 x 6 inches and experiment with various widths and techniques.

i have yet to get the second stitching to land in the ditch .

mkc

Why not do Charismah's Quick Machine Binding with Flange from the tutorials here? In this case, you first attach to the back, then flip to the front and sew "in the ditch" of the flange from the front.

I love the accent color of the flange on my quilts and have used her method for every quilt I've made in the past 10+ years. I match the top thread to the flange fabric and the bobbin thread to that of the quilting on the back.

AprilM

You arent the only one to wonder about this - been there, done that!

I asked around to get some advice on this one and a friend told me that when she binds by machine that she sews the binding on the backside and flips it to the front so that you are machine finishing the binding on the front side. You dont need to change the width of your binding. You are making the front look nice and neat because you can actually see what you are doing. You will see those stitches on the back so just load the bobbin with thread that matches the back.

It wont be perfect (mine wasnt) but it looked much better than it would have if i tried to work blindly hoping i would somehow catch all the edges. It was always a big disappointment to me because i DIDNT. This works.

GingerK

mkc and AprilM are both right. The flange binding is great and if you match your top thread to the flange, you don't even need to be exactly in the ditch. And matching the bobbin thread to either the backing OR the bobbin colour that was used in the quilting, disguises the line of stitching on the backing.

I like to use my Stitch in the Ditch foot when sewing binding on the front. I set my needle so that it is just to the RIGHT of the little metal divot on the guide and butt the binding against the guide. It works so well for me.

We make and bind so many donation quilts, that our fingers would be worn out if we hand stitched the bindings to the back. One member gave a great reason that we do it as we do. She said "I only hand stitch my bindings for people that I think are worthy of so much effort. So far, I haven't met one."

wesing

For some reason I can’t post the link but I mostly use Donna Jordan’s method. I use 2.5” cross-grain binding strips. I attach with wider than a quarter inch seam. It’s closer to 3/8” than to 1/4”. That leaves me the right amount of binding to wrap around. As someone else said, it’s a good idea to experiment with some scraps before you commit to a real quilt. Then KEEP your experimental piece and use a sharpie to write all the particulars on the fabric so you will always have a reference to go back to.

Rhonda K

I sew the binding strip (2.5 inches) onto the back of the quilt using a 3/8 " seam. I mark the bottom corner and stop stitching at 3/8 inch. I take a couple of back stitches and lock the stitch.

Fold the binding to make the corner turn and again sew with a 3/8 " seam.

Fold Binding to the front and stitch down.

aashley333

Love the flange tutorial! So easy. Binding is new to me because I learned to self-bind my quilts by extending the top layer and folding to the back. Now, I use a serpentine stitch on front when folding attached binding to back. That way, it does secure the back.

Snooze2978

I also used to do my binding as you described but now my hands shake so badly and I had so many quilts to finish, I wanted to get them completely done as fast as possible but still look great. Now I stitch on the back side by machine and I use only a 2.25" binding so I don't have the empty space once I turn it over to the front side. I use a foot with the flange in the center, move my needle over enough to catch the edge and stitch away. You could also use a decorative stitch. Plus, if you are using the same fabric for the binding as on the back, the stitching won't show much at all. I watched a youtube video on how to use decorative stitches from our machines. She explains which ones not to use, check for the width of the stitch, practice to see which of your feet works the best for decorative stitching, etc.
On a baby quilt, it would be cute to have a decorative stitch I would think.