Ladies,
I stumbled upon this binding shortcut after a class with Weeks Ringle, of Chicago. She gave us some binding tips. When I came home, I was binding 6 placemats and came up with this idea on my own. It was one of those, "Duh, why didn't I do this before?!"
Thought I would share.

When you put on binding to a sewn item, I have seen it pooled in sewer's laps and I have seen women wearing toilet paper roll necklaces with it. I took a large, empty Rx bottle. I taped down the first binding edge with easily removable painter's tape, I then wound the binding so that it would pull off clockwise (providing tension), and so that the center fold was facing me as I sit at the machine (see the photos). As you sew, the binding comes off as the item you are sewing moves and pulls it. This leaves both hands free to "insert" your item into the binding. Hope I didn't make it sound too confusing. Enjoy!

Wow, aren't you clever! Thanks for sharing the tip. And the pictures make it even more understandable!

Pictures are the best. I can understand things so much better by seeing it than reading about it.

Great idea! Thanks for sharing!

WOOOOO! :D That's a good one!

That's brilliant! Pat yourself on the back. :thumbup:

Great idea!

thanks for the great tip.

what a great idea!!!

I agree!

Neat idea....seems like I'm always tripping on my binding.

Thanks for the awesome tip. Great pictures and explanations. :thumbup:

How smart is that....
I have been using an old but clean Easter Basket on the floor.

:thumbup: :thumbup:

Great tip. Thanks for sharing.

that's awesome! I use a wire hanger with a paper towel tube on it.

Thanks for sharing.

That's a great idea and pictures are the best :lol:

WOW, cool ideal, thanks for sharing.

Definitely a geat tip. However, can we talk about your class with Weeks Ringle?!!!! I am so inspired with Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. What class did you do? What binding tips did she pass along. Please...inquiring minds want to know. :)

LuvE posted a similar technique ... she wound the binding onto a paper towel tube, and put it on her thread holder. Thread was on a separate stand at the back of the machine.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention!

Good idea!

Your instructions were very easy to understand. Thanks for sharing your tips!!

:thumbup: That's what I do. Thanks for the pictures. Neat sewing machine. BrendaK

Sorry, I forgot to say that I put the empty Rx bottle upside down on a thread spool holder on the front of my machine.

We had the class: "Left Brain, Right Brain Quilting" - It was awesome. Best lecture on the process/idea stage I have had. Here is her class link:
http://www.funquilts.com/gallery/classes/Workshops.html

Thank you! I have one of those machines too. Now, I know which machine to use with the new binding tip!

It's always amazing to see how inventive quilters are. Terrific idea.

I just throw it over my shoulder and let it feed naturally. It works for me. Saves me all that time winding it on something. I'm lazy.

Very clever. Better than getting strangled with that thing around the neck. The TP around the neck is just too funny.

Very clever!!! Thank you for sharing and the great pictures too :D:D:D

Awesome idea. I will have to give it a try... Thanks.

Clever!

thanks for the great idea.

Quilters are some of the most ingenious people I know!

thank you !

here is the thing..this might work for smaller bindings, but the larger the quilt the larger the binding and eventually it will not fit on the bottle..
another thing is, if you use your machine like this and something goes wrong, you have just voided your warranty! So always ask yourself this question before you do something like this to your machine..is doing this "shortcut" worth the money it will cost me to repair this machine if something goes wrong?
If the answer is NO, then please consider spooling it from out of a large mouth jar, bucket, etc!

DITTO :thumbup:

I don't understand how this could be detrimental to the machine. The binding isn't going through the machine and it looks like the thread holder is an extra one that she wasn't using anyway.

![/quote]I don't understand how this could be detrimental to the machine. The binding isn't going through the machine and it looks like the thread holder is an extra one that she wasn't using anyway.[/quote]

the weight on the spindle, binding is heavier than a spool of thread!

Thanks