Binding a quilt
 

After all of these years of quilting and binding quilts, I am still not happy with the way my bindings look. I am a visual learner. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good video on how to bind your quilt with perfect mitered corners? I have watched a few and am still at a loss.

I have gone to UTube several times and watched and have always felt I gained a lot of practical help.
Mariah

Donna Jordan's tutorial on binding was super helpful for me. Her website is jordanfabrics.com.

There are good tutorials on the quilting board too.

These are my favorite methods. We were give instructions to watch these prior to a class project involving inside and outside corners. I linked them all so you can choose the one you want.

https://quiltwithmarcibaker.com/quilt-videos/

You want to make sure the corners are folded with a 45 degree. Sometimes I lay the binding on the cutting mat to get the true angle.

ETA: The stitch off in the corner really helps too and worth the effort.

It is like a lot of quilting, practice, practice. I use to have problems mitering the corners. I just kept trying, eventually it all just worked.

I agree, since learning this I always do it and my corners improved quite a bit. I also find doing the few stitches out to the raw edge corner helps me to make a true 45 degree angle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2hWQ5-ZccE

This is Sharon Schamber's binding video. I find it so soothing to listen to her. It's the only method I've tried and it works great.

Patrick Locke’s technique works best for me.

https://youtu.be/MMsmEtonhoA

Patrick never shows us how to finish the ends.
Sharon has the triangle, but why do you need extra fabric sticking off the edge? Just fold the end down so that the top end of the binding is even with the side raw edge.
Jenny Doan has a pretty good way of joining ends in her block magazine.

When you press the triangle in the beginning of the binding, the end needs to overlap just to the bottom of that triangle. No rulers needed. Cut it off there. No matter how wide the binding strip is, that measurement is there at the bottom of the triangle.

Below is my current favorite method of machine binding since it is harder for me to do the hand sewing on the back these days. I was surprised how great the mitered corners looked the first time I tried it.

https://thequiltshow.com/daily-blog/142-newsletter/23988-margo-clabo-how-to-make-a-faux-piped-binding?utm_source=Infusionsoft&utm_medium=email&u tm_campaign=2015_12_30_Newsletter_5&inf_contact_ke y=6ab3c8b1b9cf68f0b25031c5ef62d2c4cefa66b4d291a856 c85bfc3a371c1723

Mitering corners is my weakest skill when quilting. It could be on a boarder or the binding. They always tend to take away the joy for a bit. For the most part on quilts that are staying in the family I do not miter the corners.

Margo Clabo's method works for me (JENNR8R posted the link). She makes binding from start to finish very, very easy. As JENNR8R stated, my corners came out great the very first time I did it too. I was surprised by how simple and quick her method is to make beautiful mitered corners.

I failed miserably until I found Leah Day's YouTube video, "Binding a quilt by Machine from start to finish." Love her teaching videos!

As simple as this sounds - it truly does help. When you get to the corner area, give a good press to the binding. If the binding has a nice crease, it will 'fold' a bit easier and hold while you turn your corner. Until you feel comfortable with how you can hold it flat, this does help.

Check out YouTube videos with Marcy Baker. She is a perfectionist and explains what she is doing clearly and the video shows what is happening. (Unlike many others that want to show the speaker rather than the technique). :-)

on your google search type in Emerald Meadows quilt binding. The tutorial that comes up is very good.

I like this tutorial. Easy to follow. Looks like you've got a lot of options/choices to use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1vICZf9_Ys

I have been using extra wide binding and turning it to the back. Makes a nice frame around the backing. The wider binding is easier for me and faster. It's more like a semi facing and is perfect for quilts that will get used a lot. My grands that have quilts with this binding the quilts are not frayed or worn on the edges like the full bias binding ones I use to do. Who decided full bias bindings were the best anyway? I'm not wasting hours sewing narrow binding and fussing with small miters on a quilt anymore.

I believe there are at least 3 things to watch for nice mitered corners.
First, the quilt must be properly trimmed.
Second, avoid sewing into the 1/4 inch corner (if sewing 1/4 inch binding)
3/8 inch (if sewing 3/8 inch binding). Slow down and stop before that
mark.
Third, when folding the binding, make sure it's flush with the binding.
I know we all have different ways of sewing binding. For me sewing
to the corner never worked. There must be a secret to that that I
haven't found yet. So I prefer to stop before that corner. And when
I resume sewing the binding, I put my needle at the 1/4 or 3/8 inch
mark then backstitch but not all the way to the fold. That's the key.
You just have to pay attention to how you are sewing and note what
works for you and what doesn't. That's how you can improve.
I use Patrick Loose's tip and trim the binding in the corners.
This helps with the bulk.

I'm with onebyone about wide binding. I tried wide binding and it's so much easier to have perfect miters. Everyone comments about how my binding gives the back of the quilt a nice frame. If I have wide borders then I turn to the front. I get excited about binding now and before I dreaded it.