Kudos To You Machine Quilters
 

This is to praise anyone who can get a sewing machine or quilting machine to do what they want and make something beautiful. I tried to make a heart hot pad that I downloaded from the internet yesterday and it was a mess. It was simple enough until I had to put the binding on. What a mess! I tried for a couple of hours then just decided enough is enough. No heart hot pads are being created today and with that I threw it away and put my material away for another project. So here's to all you machiners!

Trust me, most of our first projects looked like yours! Takes a lot of practice, so please don't be discouraged. You mentioned problems with the binding... was the potholder heart shaped with curves? you have to cut bias binding for curved edges.

Don't give up yet. Nothing you try for the first time is easy. check out the tutorial on you tube for help. Some of us have binding problems after years of doing them. Just take a break and try again.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Don't ever give up and eventually you will master it. I try to never let fabric win!

Did you make your binding bias?? If it is similar to to the one I plan to make sometime in the future, if it has curved edges, the binding must be bias. PLEASE take it out of the trash and just put it away for a while. do you have a local quilting friend that could help you??

To bind curves, yes, it helps to cut the binding strips on the bias.
It also helps to check out some advice on how to bind inner corners/angles.
http://www.quilt-video.com/2010/02/0...ng-odd-angles/

Jan in VA

People look at all the successes and praise me for my wonderful work... I say...you should've seen the failures. The amount of failures are in direct proportion to the amount of successes.

Don't give up.....binding can be a nightmare especially for first time projects. When you have time to sit down and have a look at youtube - some good tutorials for a lot of stuff....

Binding is hard! There's also more than one way to do it, so you might want to read up on different ways to do it if you attempt it again. I tried a few different ways before I settled on the one that worked best for me. I find it easiest to fold the strip in half along the length, sew it on to the back, and then fold it over to the front (sorry, this is probably not a helpful description unless you already know what I mean). This has the bonus of not needing to make double fold binding tape which is a minor pain. I've tried self-binding a few times, and it was a disaster - seemed like it would be easier, but it was harder (for me).

I have one thing to say...walking foot! Mine was awful until I discovered the walking foot!