Hi everyone

I am ready to Hand Quilt/hand sew my binding - a friend of mine has it sew on but I need to finish the binding and I have a few questions:

Do I Iron the Binding down first?

Can I use T Pins to hold down my Binding til I get it Hand Quilted? or should I use Binding Clips?

I never did this before and I want to make sure that I am doing this right

Thanks for your help in this....

Most quilters wait until the quilting is finished to sew the binding on.

Congratulations on being a new quilter. It sounds like you have some of your quilting terms mixed up. I am assuming that you already have the quilt made and quilted except for the binding. If it is already sewn down on the face side of the quilt all you have to do is fold it to the back and whip stitch it down so that as little of your stitches show as possible. You should fold it tight enough that the stitches that secured it to the front are hidden. I have done it so many times that I just fold it over as I go but it might help you to secure it ahead of time with either pins or clips. Then remove them as you complete the sewing.

I am done with my Hand Quilting...I need to know should I iron the binding down first before I sew it completely down or what?

Can I use T Pins to hold down the Binding?

Thanks

In my Quilting group most of them sew the whole binding down by hand....I'm just saying what I've seen done in the last few weeks.

I don't iron it to the back as it just seems to turn under nicely. You might stretch it if you iron it, maybe.

I always iron mine down first and then pin or glue-baste it down before stitching. It helps me to maintain a more even binding width on the front and a straighter fold. I don't have any problems with stretching, but it's something to watch for...

As you can see, quilters have different methods that work well for them, so feel free to experiment a little and see what works best for you.

Congrats on getting ready to finish up your quilt!

Thanks for your help....

Can I use T Pins to hold down the binding while I am stitching it down?

I love to glue baste my binding. Here are Sharon Schamber's tutorial videos for her method (the back of the binding starts probably halfway through the second video...)

http://quiltinggallery.com/2008/05/1...s-school-glue/

For an alternative without glue, I've seen people iron the binding and pinning a small length of it to the quilt with hair clips. Then sew it down, then pin a bit more. The good thing about hair clips is, you don't accidentally poke yourself while holding the quilt (as with pins).

Example of the kind of hairclips people use (you can buy special ones in quilt shops but apparently more expensive, and they do the same):

http://www.kaboose.com/imageLibrary/hairclips.jpg

Good luck!!! And be sure to post pictures of your work here when you are done, we all love seeing them. :thumbup:

You can use the T-pins but I find that saftey pins work better because they don't poke me all the time and there is no chance of them slipping out. I also iron my binding as I fold it over to the back. It helps me keep it from getting pulled out of shape as I do the hand binding. You must be beside yourself with excitement at finishing the quilt.