I guess I'm a Minority...I use to do phoney borders, 3 inch fabric around and then sandwich batting, and two fabrics right sides facing each other. Sew around leaving 5 inches at base to turn inside out...Then I did Stitch in a Ditch. But then a cousin who hand quilts showed me how to bind and I love it!!!! I cut 2 1/2 inch binding fold in half, sew on one side and then hand sew with hidden stitch on the other. I actually find hand sewing at night while watching TV to be relaxing...Can't get enough of it...I know I'm sick....

If you are sick so I am and a lot of others. Love hand sewing binding in evening.

Here is a demonstration of the stitch I use. It really is invisible.

http://www.dreamweavers-quilts.com/q...ing-invisibly/

Sure is! I just found this tutorial for a faux piping binding where you pull it around to the front and sew it down with a straight stitch!!!

http://tlcstitches.blogspot.com/2010...-tutorial.html

I agree, buying the binding tool (flat piece of plastic about three inches wide with a slanted end) is a waste of money. It's a learning curve to figure out how to do double-fold binding that ends up with a diagonal seam that fits perfectly but it's worth it. I agree also that it's best to have someone help you learn it in person. Maybe guilds could have volunteers to help quilters who need to have a little push to figure it out. Once you get it then you've got it. I myself was totally mystified even though I read the directions many times until a friend showed me how to do it.

Dana

I am with Bonnie I send the binding 2 inch with the quilt and she sews it on. She has a heavy industrial sewing machine and does a beaut job all I do is hand sew it down. I try to match the thread to the binding color and do a hidden stitch also I started with 2 and half inch binding and doubled it thinking it would do better but a quilter friend told me the outside layer of binding is the first to wear out whether it is double or single and you might want to rebind anyway so now I just do a single fold binding I enjoy the relaxing with the quilt on a cold evening while I hem.

Ever since I bought the Binding Gizmo I love to do binding, they turn out perfect every time. No matter if it is a wall hanging to lap quilt (I don't make anything bigger) I got mine at a fabric shop, but if you do a search on Binding Gizmo you should be able to read about it. I tried to put in the URL but then my message would not be accepted I guess.

I hope this helps some of you out. I love it wouldn't be without it. My niece says too that she is so glad that she purchased one too.

I have the Binding Tool you mentioned and it seems to
work really well for me. The first couple of times I had to
watch the video but at last I am able to do it without
watching. I would suggest that you leave the exact 12 inch
opening and the tails 10 inches each. It really does work.

I forgot to mention that I have started cutting my binding strips
2 3/4 inches wide. I like the way it folds over to the back better and the binding looks neater and still not too wide.

I find pinning from one corner of quilt to next corner really helps me distrubed my quilt with no tucks. These were greats tutorials. I found I've been joining all wrong lol. Well it worked I guess but now I have a better way. Thanks you girls very much.

http://verykerryberry.blogspot.com/2...-tutorial.html

I liked this little tutorial especially when she shows how to join. :)

I felt the same way, the first time I tried to bind I did it front to back, HELLO, I missed half of it and had to redo those spots, the second time I tried back to front, which was not to bad but my corners were just horrid, yesterday I did it again, front to back and I did a not so bad job, still needs to be improved upon, but that will come with practice, dont give up, you can do it....I have a magazine that illustrates how to make the ends meet up, someone posted the illustration here, it works perfect....please keep trying you will great!!!! :thumbup:

Leah Day has a You Tube video on binding from back to front, pretty easy to follow.....

I don't care to bind either, but the more I do it, I really have perfected my mitered corners! Now to be able to machine sew the binding better, but it is getting better. Practice practice practice.

Maybe just practice on scraps instead of an actual quilt?

Guess I was very lucky...on my first quilt a friend showed me the way to make bias French fold binding, perfect mitered corners and the invisible join...and now that I am making the faux piping binding, I'm still getting perfect miters even with both sides sewn by machine. She taught me well - I think the secret is stopping 1/4" from the corner and sewing the diagonal off the edge, folding the binding over right and sewing down the next side. She had instructions from Fons and Porter that she used to teach me from.

ok everybody! here it is!! joining the ends of double fold binding, version 2 by Shelley Rodgers it is soo great.

Make a small quilt an practice, I had a friend walk me through three quilts, I agree the bindings are a challenge but don't give up.

try just binding one edge at a time and when all four done merely finish corners by turning square ends under, had never done it before but our quilt leader cut the binding from her fabric and did it single too, hated it at first but it went well and a neat finish too.

try just binding one edge at a time and when all four done merely finish corners by turning square ends under, had never done it before but our quilt leader cut the binding from her fabric and did it single too, hated it at first but it went well and a neat finish too.

I used to hate to do bindings too. Someone at a quilt shop showed me how to bindings and now I enjoy working on them.

I am new at quilting also. Someone in a quit shop just showed me how to bind when I was there buying material. The following demonstration looks very much like what I was shown and I was successful on my first quilt.

http://www.heatherbaileydesign.com/HB_QuiltBinding.pdf

Good luck

Here is THE BEST tip for you and everyone on this site. Go to YouTube and type in the subject line "Quilt Binding," or something similar to that. Voila! Up will pop many short videos on how to produce the perfect binding. If you can't follow one, there are many others. This is my go-to help source for many quilting issues. :) Try it, and write me back to let me know how it worked for you. This is Sew Hooked

I'm working on a table runner. When I'm done, I'll attempt binding again. I'll let ya'll see it when I'm done. :)

I hated binding too until one day I saw Martha Stewart doing one on her show. She turned her's to the front and machine stitched it with the quilting appliqué stitch. I even ended up buying the Pfaff sewing machine she used because I was so impressed with how easy and nice it looked. I also learned from experience that making the binder no larger than 2 inches wide makes for a binding that lays flat and looks straight.

That is known as self-binding. It is utilitarian but has downsides. First, it is only one layer thick, and if that 'binding' wears out, it'll be more difficult to replace. Second, when the quilt is quilted, it shrinks a little but the binding can't and the edges of the quilt become 'lettuce-leafed.' It's almost impossible to avoid this