I want to sew the binding to the back, fold over and sew it down with a decorative stitch. But what I don't understand: if I want to "fill" the binding with 1/4" of batting and trim the batting 1/4" from the edge of the quilt, do I sew the binding to the back at 1/4" DOWN from the edge of the batting? Isn't that hard because it won't always be an exact 1/4"??

you cut all 3 layers the same, then use a 1/4" seam when you put your binding on, when you fold it to the front it will be full

I don't trim the batting 1/4" from the edge. I cut the quilt, backing and batting with the rotary cutter altogether, so when you sew the binding 1/4" from the cut edge, there is batting there to fill the binding when it's turned to the front. Sewing straight hasn't been a problem using the walking foot.

I do it this way, too. It works very well when you have a final border around your quilt to help square everything up without cutting off points. I always try to get some kind of border on large quilts just for this purpose. Oh, and I use a 3/8" seam instead of 1/4" for applying my bindings. I think it looks better and holds better.

i do it this way too

your 1/4" seam is the 1/4" you need to 'fill' your binding, you line up raw edges, stitch a 1/4" seam to attach your binding to one side, turn to the other side (the process of folding it to the other side) fills the binding, you fold it over (snuggly) and stitch down either by hand or by machine.

I mark the edge of the quilt with a Sharpie permanent marker (instead of cutting). Then I line up the raw edge of the binding with the marker line, sew on the binding, and only after that cut everything down. At that time I can make adjustments to the binding fill by cutting a little extra or shaving off a bit if I want to.

I just recently read about this technique for the first time, and I'm trying to figure out what the benefit is of this method vs. trimming all 3 layers and THEN adding the binding. No one in my little quilting world has ever done it, or even heard about it, this way.

So instead of trimming all 3 layers, you're "squaring" the quilt by drawing the Sharpie lines?

Do you ever block your quilts? After the binding?

Interesting. Very interesting.

Thanks for the info.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

I recently saw Sharon Schamber's binding method. Regardless if you're hand or machine sewing, her use of Elmer's glue is genius.

I've used it on the last 2 quilts (this month), and it's a dream, especially on the kid's quilt where I didn't want to bother hand sewing it down. By using the glue, there is no worry about it wiggling out of alignment, and it doesn't matter whether you're doing a straight, curvy or decorative stitch. NO PINS.

Genius.

I'm looking forward to using it on this monster I'm working on now.

You can check out her videos on youtube.
Part 1 (of 3 parts)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PE0Yq9iGlc

The advantage of marking first instead of trimming first is that it is much easier to sew an exact 1/4" seam without any stretching or slippage. It allows pinning to the right of the sewing, for example, to keep everything aligned. Also, it allows you to increase the amount of batting that fills the binding, if necessary.

This is a technique I developed for myself after a particularly difficult quilt, where the edges seemed really hard to control.