Learned a new trick!
 

This is probably not new to the rest of you, but I have recently bound several quilts in a row for a friend. I machine sew mine to the back, then hand stitch to the front, but in the interest of time, I did these entirely by machine. After struggling to fold over the binding to stitch it in place, I thought about ironing it first. What a difference! Now, after applying the binding to the back, I iron it along the seam, then fold it over and iron the fold into it. Much less resistance for the final decorative sewing. Just thought I'd share.

Thank you for a valuable tip! Some quilts are just right for having the binding done entirely by machine.

I would not iron the binding. I use poly batting and afraid it might not work out so well. I also hand sew the binding to the back, I like that look much better.

thanks for sharing your tip

I fold and iron mine in half.then sew to the back with a quarter inch seam,then fold to the front and miter the corners.I can not hand stitch as many items as I make and keep up-2 carpal tunnels operations and machine sewing is better for my hands too.

Try elmer's glue with the pressing - a small bead works great!

I just did this on two quilts and loved it. I was able to sew the binding by hand in far less time. I usually pinned my binding downand then sit with Dh and watch tv,but poke myself with the pins way too much. Be careful not to use too much glue or it is harder to get the needle through!

I sew binding from back to front too. I have started to use the knife edge binding on my quilts. Many old quilts has this binding.

BellaBoo,
What do you mean by "knife edge"? Can you give us a pic?

Jan in VA

When I was at Quilt Extravaganza (Mancuso's show) I saw alot of the art quilts with a knife edge binding. I thought they were birthed at first (which doesn't make sense since they were all heavily quilted) and I took many pictures of them. I never knew what the technique was called. The effect that this type of binding has on the quilts was stunning. I am definitely planning on trying it sometime.

This is a great example of a knife edge binding:

http://thegirlwhoquilts.blogspot.com...christmas.html

If hand stitching needs to be done to the back. But I say the whole quilt has bee machine sewed so why hand stitch the batting?

I have never see knife edge before...just wondering if there is a tute out there ??

Here is how it is described in a quilt book: Knife edge binding:A binding alternative in which both the quilt top fabric and backing fabric are turned under to meet evenly at the edges of the quilt, leaving the quilt edges without an additional strip of binding fabric.

Bonnie Hunter has a great picture of this type of binding on her blog: It's the last picture:
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/...es-beauty.html

I use knife edge binding on my art quilts. http://bloominworkshop.wordpress.com...-edge-binding/
If i can figure out how to post a picture I will

Knife edge binding
 

Here is a picture (maybe!) of my knife edge binding

Warned ya I dont know how to post pictures! The quilt looks crooked in the picture but it really is very straight. Just the way it is hanging

Wonderful tutorial, Anita. Thank you!

Very interesting! I'm surprised that I don't care for it, though. The squared corners on the back don't appeal to me; I prefer mitering for the diagonal finish.

And the thought of closing that thing all the way around with a hidden stitch just makes my heart pound!:shock: Yet, I do an applique/hidden stitch to handsew bindings down.....go figure.:rolleyes:

Isn't it wonderful there are so many ways to do the same thing?!:thumbup:

Jan in VA

Hand stitch? I cheat. I fold in enough so I can topstitch around 1/4". I do this for most of my made to be used and loved quilts which are about 98% of my quilts. I make one show quilt once a year. I follow all the quilt rules on that one but the others are made for the fun of it.

I only use this method on art type quilts, not regular quilts. Leaves a nice clean finish without another fabric for binding which can sometimes fight with the design. As far as stitching it down, its no different than sewing down a regular binding. Just applied a little differently. Dont know what you mean by closing it up. Same perimeter. Not sure which tutorial you were looking at. The picture I posted is a wallhanging which took Best In Show in a show this summer and had rave judges comments about the sharp edges.


QUOTE=Jan in VA;5703408]Very interesting! I'm surprised that I don't care for it, though. The squared corners on the back don't appeal to me; I prefer mitering for the diagonal finish.

And the thought of closing that thing all the way around with a hidden stitch just makes my heart pound!:shock: Yet, I do an applique/hidden stitch to handsew bindings down.....go figure.:rolleyes:

Isn't it wonderful there are so many ways to do the same thing?!:thumbup:

Jan in VA[/QUOTE]

thanks for the tip

Snipforfun, Thanks for the link. Wow, will have to try this especially for the small quilts even mug rugs

I iron my binding seam after attaching to the back of the quilt then turn and clip with those little red clips (love them)
This way I can see my seam line as I stitch it down on the front. I sew on top of my back seamline.

I totally agree! Learned this trick several years ago and I will never do it any other way now. Great thing is you don't have any pins to get in your way and it is completely flexible so you can drape it over your furniture or clothing and not have to worry about getting caught on anything.

That is what I do...I also sometimes use a stitch in the ditch foot on the front and use a decorative stitch with invisible thread in bobbin.

To me knife edge binding is like leaving an opening to turn a sewn project inside out and then you have the opening to close up by folding the edges in and then sewing the opening closed. This is the way I do it all around the quilt. Sometimes I sew a strip of fabric on both sides of the quilt and turn those in. Looks like binding because the fabric is different but not stuffed. I do it differently however the mood strikes when binding.

Do you start off with 2 1/2 or 2 1/4 inch strips? Does one work better than the other?

Nice to see different ways to do bindings. I think the true knife edge is turned in on front and back and blind stitched at the edge. The other knife edge shown was with binding sewn on the front and turned back so it doesn't show on the front. Then sewn on the back.
One more way to make a quilt reversible is to make your binding of two fabrics. Half matches the front and the other half matches the back. I think Betty Cotton shows how to do this. That way one color shows only on the front and the other color only on the back. This is tricky to get perfect, but I've seen it done perfectly.

One other thing: when we talk about glue, I think we should always use the words "school glue" You never know when someone will see a comment about glue who has never heard about it before, and thinks all glue is the same. Just don't want someone to get the wrong idea and mess up a project.

Thank you, I'm always looking for new ways of doing things.
I think that I'll try this on some left over quilt blocks.

So glad to learn this.

I find the 2 1/4 inch works best for me with Warm and Natural batting. A much higher batting might require the wider binding. I too glue...use Roxanne's...I like not having anything to catch when feeding it through the machine.

the knife edge method looks pretty interesting.

This glue thing sounds intriguing. I will try it with binding but also with hand applique, esp the small pieces. I'm tired of working around pins that poke and catch and shred silk thread!

Learn something new everyday and I like different ways of doing things.

-I have my backing about 3 inches bigger on each side of my quilt then once I am all done quilting it, I trim up my batting and I place/fold the edge of my backing next to the edge of my top then fold over and sew very close to the edge on the top so you have about a 1/2 inch looking binding...I make lots of baby quilts for friends n family so this is a fast way for me bind my quilts...

-I've also done this with some bigger quilts and it still looks nice and holds up very well...I have hand stitched binding before and agree it looks better but I prefer to machine stitch if I can...on a show quilt I would definitely hand stitch but for all my other quilts I machine stitch it :)

-I think your tip is great!! Nicely done.

Thanks for the info on the knife edge binding. I don't know whether I'll use it because I like tomiter my corners, but it's always nice to have different things in my "bag of tricks."

I have a question - On the video by Sharon S-- for doing the Elmer's around the edge with the binding - there's a tip of some kind on the bottle of glue. If she said what the tip WAS I missed it, and the video was far too blurry for me to see what the heck it was! Can anybody tell me what the tip thing was? I can't wait to try this the next time I bind a quilt.

I have to say - in the few weeks I've been a member of this board, I've seen MORE nifty tricks mentioned, and nifty tools, and really helpful tutorials than I've seen in the last 10 years. This is the BEST ever for my quilting loves and skills! :)

Melinda

I took 2 classes from the author of this book. Lots of wonderful finishes. Its one of my go to books. Amazon doesnt seem to have the revised edition. Get it directly from designer.

http://www.buttercupquilts.com/fine_finish.htm

That is absolutely georgous.

That's how I do mine too. I fold mine in half and iron; then sew to the back; fold to front and sew down. (usually by machine but sometimes by hand).