I was at a Christmas Bazzar at our local hospital where my husband works. There is always a quilt that is being raffled so I was looking closely at it and noticed the binding was done diferently than I have ever seen. The backing was brought around to the front. How is this done and is it easier than the traditional method. I am a beginner and it seems to me it might be an easier option.

this is frequently done, but I've never done it myself. The only problem I've seen with this technique is that the corners don't always look as nice and the fabric sometimes gets twisted a little when it's folded to the front...but those things can be corrected with practice. The technique is done by making sure you have plenty of fabric on the back to allow you to turn it over when the quilting is done. You have to fold the backing out of the way in order to square up the batting and front then bring the back out, square it up with the front and then fold it over and stitch. This process to me is just as confusing as the traditional binding method is...and I'd be sure to cut the backing material when I was squaring up the batting/front so that would make more work...

The technique I've read about for doing the corners is to pull the corner of the backing material in to the front corner making a diagonal fold across the corner, then, when you fold in the top and side, you have a neat corner with no raw edges showing...I'm sure there are tutorials on how to do this. Good luck.

There are a few tutorials on using this method. I have tried it a couple of times without much success.

I prefer to use a separate binding. I think of binding as my "frame" for the quilt.

I have seen this done, and even one person recommended that I do it with one of my quilts. I have yet to do it, but I have in the past wondered why more quilts are not done this way.

Maybe I will give it a try on something small like a placemat or mug rug first. Thanks for your imput.Hers just looked nice....

That's the way I do all my binding. I cut 2 1/2 inch strips for my binding. Fold the strips in half and press, creates a 1 1/4 inch wide binding. You sew the binding raw edges with a 1/4 seam to the back of the quilt. Sew your binding to the front of the quilt using a zigzag or decorative stitch. I usually use a blanket stitch. I've attached the instructions I use.

I JUST finished a quilt this way this morning to try it out. It looks like Kate described the process exactly the way I did it, and it turned out pretty nicely. Like she said though, the corners aren't quite a nice; they're OK, but are a little bulkier. I didn't have any trouble getting it to lay flat using a walking foot. I chose to use this method on this particular quilt because I didn't have enough of the backing material left to cut a regular binding and I wanted to use that fabric.

All-in-all, it was a little "easier" than a french fold binding and I machine stitched it, so no hand work except for a little basting at each corner to make sure they were good before I stitched it down by machine. It's definitely quicker, but does take some careful trimming and preparation of the backing/binding and the batting.

I'll probably use this method occasionally, but I prefer a french fold or piped binding on my really "good" quilts.

I just did this on a baby blanket, and it turned out fine (but yes, the corners were a little bumpy). Fortunately, I had this great little gadget I got in a bag of old sewing notions -- it's a little bar that attaches to the top bar of your scissors, and you can set it for a certain distance up to 1.5 inches. So I had the backing down, then the batting, then the top. I pinned the top and batting real well, and then I cut the backing 1.5 inches wider using the guide attached to the scissors.

I then folded the binding up and over the front, pinned like crazy, and sewed it on. The pinning took a long time, but the sewing went quick. I'll probably do it again, but I won't use it every time.

I've also seen quilts where the sewist used Minkee on the back, pulled it up and over, stitched around the edge of the quilt, and then just trimmed as close to the sewing line as possible. I was amazed. It didn't unravel or anything, and while up close the cutting wasn't perfect, from a distance it was fine and it was such a soft binding it made up for it. Just another idea!

Laurie

This is the way quilts have been done for years and years. The Quilting Guilds and shows prefer the cut binding...I did not bind quilts with cut binding until I joined a Guild. My Grandmother taught me to pull the backing to the front and if you do it just right you don't have bulk and get as good a corner as using the cut binding. The cut binding is quicker and easier to use.

I just asked my friend about how to do this, as she was showing me how to square up the batting and top, she accidently cut the backing......... Good thing the quilt is just for my sweet little Isabella (cat). She won't mind me using steam-a-seam to repair the cuts. :) :) For sure I won't be doing my binding this way. I'm just not competent enough to not cut my backing.

I do most of my quilts that way. I fold from the back and then usually use a decorative stitch on the front. They definitely don't like it done that way at shows - you probably will not win any prizes. But if I am not entering it in a show this technique is much easier in my opinion. But then, I have always hated any hand sewing so I am probably not the person to ask!

I've used it and had no problem. I used it on some granddaughter quilts. The backing fabric as just so cute I was going to cut it to bind it with the same material, then realized just using it from the back forward made a lot of sense. And was a lot quicker than machine sewing on the binding, turning it over and hand stitching the back. But I usually bind in a different color. So it just depends on your quilt and what you like. No rules here.

when i have used this method i trim the backing to be 1" wider than the quilted quilt. then at the ironing board i carefully bring a side forward, fold the raw edge in half (wrong side together) so the raw edge is even with the edge of the quilt top.then fold again over the top and pin. i sew one side at a time with a blind hem stitch. i stop a couple inches from the corners and fold my miter carefully then continue along the next side. i really do not much care for the look of doing the binding that way but it is faster and works ok for the kids quilts i make. :thumbup:

I would not use it on a utility quilt because there is only one layer of fabric at the edge. My method always uses double layer of fabric. My most used and most washed quilt is starting to show the wear and tear along the binding and I think a simple binding would have holes in it by now. If the quilt is not used much, it should work just fine - after all, tons of people use that method.

One trick is to cut the corner correctly so the miter will be a perfect match.

i did it on one recently. brought the backing fabric over and used it as binding. had a tiny bit of trouble with the corners though. i like binding sewn on the back and brought forward to the front. easier in my mind. and stronger too of course.