When I am sewing a binding on by machine I just increase the width of the binding from 2.5 inches to 3.0 inches. It has worked great for me every single time.

This is what I do. I can get a binding on by machine in less than 2 hours total. Hand stitching would take me several hours. Patience is not one of my virtues either. :wink:

[quote=ToucanSam]No, I have enough to wrap around to the back. I sewed the binding to the front and have wrapped it around to the back. Now I can, if I wanted to, hand stitch it down but I have no patience for that. What I attempted to do instead was to go back to the front of the quilt (after pinning the binding over to the back side) and sitd down the FRONT. Unfortunately, this leaves a rough edge on the back, unless I stitch on to the quilt top itself rather than on to the binding.

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I stitch from the front in the ditch next to the front binding(pressed toward edge) with a slight zigzag that catches the back part of the binding. I use a top thread that matches the top, and bobbin thread that matches the binding. Careful pinning is a must in order to have the back binding in perfect alignment so that the stitching catches all the binding. If you're not careful with your pinning, you'll miss some of the binding on the back (ask me how I know that :( ).

Sharon Schamber's video on binding is great. It is one of the free videos on her website and is called Binding the Angel, I think. Check it out. :-)

I hate hand sewing, so I started sewing my binding on the back, lapping it over to the front and then using a decorative stitch, I sew it on the front. Sometimes I use a different color of thread so that it has a decorative addition to the quilt. It goes so much faster that way.

I was just going to suggest that you contact Eddie but I see that someone has already given you that suggestion. His turn out beautiful........

I have also had better results by sewing a decorative stitch on the front. It covers errors and looks good on both sides. I use a decorative stitch that goes with the quilt top i.e. a rodeo T-shirt quilt with multi colored thread & county-ish stitch.

How big is this quilt? I was going to suggest you mail it me and I hand sew it for you. I don't mind sewing the binding on, it's one thing I can do while watching TV.

Have you seen the Magic Strip Binding method? It is the one I use exclusively. Twice around the quilt and you're done. I found it in some quilting mag. that the wife had laying around.

great idea.