I prefer 2 1/2” binding sewn down on the front by machine and hand stitched on the back. I have been trying the flange method on some small quilts. I like the look but need a bit more practice.

Most of the time, I sew the binding onto the front, then turn it to the back and stitch in the ditch from the front.

But I don't trim the quilt perfectly until the binding is sewn on. That way I can see to save my points when needed. After the binding is sewn on, then I trim the back and batt at exactly 3/8 of an inch from the sewing line. I use a 12 inch ruler and rotary cutter to make short cuts at the correct distance. (Watch out for the corners. Don't cut that fold in the binding as you turned the corner.) With a little extra batt there, you can get a full binding. I only pin it at the corners.

This method works well for straight​ cut binding. I wouldn't try it with bias binding.

I have all kinds of misery when binding. I use a 2.5” strip, sew it Very carefully to the back with exactly a ¼” seam and then turn it to the front. Now this might seem crazy but binding stresses me out so much that I realized I was being way too aggressive when pulling it to the front which gave me about ¼” of binding on the back and way too much on the front. I tried to not wrap it around too tightly and this last time it worked better but I’m still not happy. As you can see from the pix below, when I flip it over, it’s inconsistent. I don’t understand what little gremlin is hiding in there that makes it wider going from back to front. It’s not that far! On the back I’m never consistent with it being on or off the fabric and gave up all hope on that long ago.

I think you have a brilliant idea of making the seam on the back larger than ¼” although I don’t have the accuracy (yet) of working in 8ths but I could do a ½.

Incredibly, I have no problems with the mitered corners. Go figure.

The dark brown fabric in the pictures I used for contrast because my countertops are light colored and you couldn’t see the binding very good.

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I use 2-1/2 inch strips, folded in half, ironed, and use a 1/4" foot to attach the binding strips to the "back" of the quilt. I then turn the strips over, press once again, lightly on the front before stitching. The fold of the binding should be placed very slightly over the 1/4" inch seam line and stitched. I like using a short/narrow zig-zag stitch which catches both the front and the back edges. You can also use a straight stitch or a decorative stitch. Takes a little practice, but the main thing to remember is the placement of the fold of the binding on the stitch line.

In this case you have to do a true flange application or piping. With both flange and piped bindings, you have to make them and sew them on separately so you can do your mitered corners in the binding. I use my invisible zipper foot for doing the piping and it works the bomb! The piping and flanges are not mitered. I have only incorporated a flange in the body of the quilt but have done piped bindings a few times. They can be very fussy but look spectacular when done and well worth the extra effort.

This is exactly how I do it too. I love hand sewing.

I now do all of my quilts, all the time, with this flange binding. It is sew easy to do, and it looks great. I will never hand sew a binding on another quilt. I love the flange binding.

Thanks FelineFanatic ... I have done it that way with a flange, and found that the flange seemed to pucker some (yes, I am finicky about it). Have never done it with a true piping. Maybe I should give that one a try sometime.

What did you use for your "cording" in the piping? I remember way back in 4-H days (so that's like a 100 yrs ago! :)) that we had to get a cord then boil it to shrink before making the piping. Otherwise, what a mess when it shrunk when things were laundered. But for a quilt, we would want something softer than a hard cording. your suggestions?

I basically do this with my french fold bias binding. I never trim until after the binding is on the front of the quilt. Since I cut my binding at 3", I line up my half-inch mark on my seam line and then trim. Gives me a nice full binding and I never ever miss catching my back into the binding, as seems to often happen to those I know who trim first.

I think the trimming first is a viable method with thinner warm & natural type batts. Would never do it on a fluffy one.

I was recently introduced to very wide binding. I love it. It is much easier to machine sew it too. I make straight binding the usual way no matter how wide I choose so it still is double folded fabric. The miters fall in place like magic. For wide binding you adjust the border width or add border to be covered by the binding to the non border quilts. Here is one quilt with wide binding I made: [ATTACH=CONFIG]614836[/ATTACH]