Go with Nanas instructions, the only difference in my bindings is the width of them. Like charsuewilson said, I go with 2 inch unless using extra thick batting then 2 1/4. I also alter which side of the quilt I attach to depending on whether its for a show or just for my use. If its for a show i attach to back then fold to front. For personal use I attach to front and fold to back.

My binding is 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches wide. I fold it in half - wrong sides together, then I sew my binding to the front of the quilt, trim the quilt top, batting and backing 1/4" from the edge of the batting. Turn the binding to the back and hand stitch. That way the binding is filled with the edge of the quilt.

I'm new to binding, so excuse my question, but for shows, I'm curious about why you attach to the back and fold to the front? I thought it was supposed to be the opposite. Do you then hand stitch to the front instead of the back?

Thank you for your responses..... I recently started to do my binding just as explained. My issue is that when I sew to the back and fold over to the front the sew line on the front is not even close to the line sewn when the binding was sewn to the back. I cut my binding strips 2-1/2" wide. Then I fold in half and iron flat. This leaves me with a strip that is 1-1/4" wide. So when I sew the cut to the back with a 1/4" seam that leaves 1" to fold over. That leaves the binding to fold over way more than 1/4" on the front. On the quilts I worked on I did not have any batting in the layers. The back was fleece so I didn't think they needed batting. Maybe its the lack of the batting thickness that is causing the extra border that I am noticing. If I don't have batting in my layers maybe I need to start with a 1-1/2" strip and then fold in half to a 3/4" strip to bind with???

Again, there's a problem with terminology. I think you meant that you have quilted backing, batting, and top together and want to know whether to cut even with the top or outside the top. I have done both ways. If it's a big quilt and I want a 1/2" binding, then I cut the backing and batting a scant 1/4" outside the quilt top, and sew my 2.5" folded binding so that the edge is even with the quilt top and the stitches are a scant 1/4" inside the quilt top and binding. Then when I fold the binding to the back side of the quilt there is just enough to barely cover the stitch lines. The two "scants" make up for the width of the batting that the folded binding has to cover. I could accomplish the same thing by using a 3" binding and placing it even with the cut edge, but then I'd have more bulk inside the binding and that's not my goal.

I always leave between an 1/8 and a1/4 inch of my backing and batting. It helps to fill up the binding. I sew on the front with 1/4 inch seam and hand stitch to the back. The woman that sews to the back and folds to the front machine stitches her binding to the quilt.

Your question is not stupid and it is a very valid question since you have not taken a class. The fun comes in because there are different ways to bind a quilt, smile. This thread has a lot of great information. If you can, take a basic class for beginners. It will usually be once a week for a few weeks. All the steps (including the binding) in making a quilt are taught, and I bet the teacher will also pass on all kinds of tips, too.

There are so many great tutorials on You-Tube Please Please Please look at them! You will be so glad you did!

This tutorial is very good. I would add that maybe you would want to get a tool called: The binding tool by Fons and Porter to help with attaching the ends of the binding. I love it and that is the only way I finish off my ends.

Recently there was a reference to a full fledged tutorial on how to glue binding to a sandwich. I am including only the page on how to figure out where to sew the binding to the front of the quilt so that when you flip it over to stitch down it will fit perfectly:

Determine and Set Seam Allowance
Depending on what width strip you are using in my case 2.5″ we will need to figure out what the perfect seam allowance will be.

• Step 25: Use some excess left over folded binding. We will fold it into 3 with the goal of leaving about 1/8″ extra at the fold. Start by folding the raw edges inward.
• Step 26: Fold it one more time and wiggle it to get about 1/8″ extra binding hanging over at the fold (see pink box). Press those folds in place with a dry hot iron to create a crease.
• Step 27: Open the binding back up and you should now see the creases.
Step 28: Head over to your sewing machine and place your needle down into the crease closest to the raw edge.