I saw instructions on youtube which were great. You sew the binding to the quilt back first. Then you flip the binding over to the front and use the quilting stitch on your machine, stitch in the stitching you did on the back having the teeth or long stitch of the quilting stitch grab the binding. It makes a clean stitch and you do not see the stitching you did on the back. This is great for family or friend quilts. If you are entering a show you should do it by hand.

Lyn a book I have call this the French Binding method. I love the method and have used it a lot.

Thanks for the tip. I will look up the book. I just cannot sit still long enough to sew the binding by hand.

My neither. By that time I'm wanting to be moving on to another project. LOL

I also do both, hand stitching it down, then I do a decorative stitch around the binding, fairly close to the seam.

By the time I'm to the binding I can't wait to attack the next project, too. It's my least favorite part but really makes a difference on the final look of your project.

I should have mentioned earlier that if this is not for a child, I too would use traditional binding methods but machine stitch the first side on what will be the back end of the binding using a double wide binding folded in half if that makes sense. Your raw edeges will meet and be to the right side of your stitch line with the pretty folded side to the left.

Once you turn the binding to the back, the stitch line is completely covered and wouldn't matter if it was hand or machine stitched because no one will see it. You'll cover the back side when the binding folds over to the back of your quilt and then blind stitch that backside.

I hope that this is clearer that I think it might be LOL. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them the best I can.

For kids quilts or a FAST binding, I sew my binding (cut 2 1/2 " wide X length needed, then fold in half right sides OUT) onto the back of the quilt (1/4" s/a) then turn to the front, press and use a decorative stitch to sew the front down. My old Bernina has a wavy stitch that I mostly use and is the ENVY of my quilt group... Sometimes I just feel the NEED to spend the time hand stitching.. great therapy!!!

I learn something new every time I come here
Thanks...
K

Thanks for the suggestions! I used the video and everything went ok. I failed to catch the fabric in a few spots, but it was easy enough to fix, and you really can't tell from the front that I machine stitched the binding on.

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493/...165666.jpg?v=0[/img]

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3473/...g?v=1233282540[/img]

Wow that turned out great, love the fabrics too :D