Is there a trick to putting on binding by machine? I have a special foot for my machine. When you bring the binding to the front, all you're supposed to do is follow along your stitching line and it stitches close to the edge of the binding (on the front.) But, on the back, it doesn't stay consistent. The stitches will be slightly on the binding for a while then they will be on the quilt. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!

Great question I am going to watch for help I have had the same problem.

Maybe the seam allowance isn't exactly the same all the way around when you sew it on the back?

Even a little bit of wobbling can make a difference.

I use a decorative stitch and that helps.

It is almost impossible to have the front and back binding exactly equal. As mentioned earlier, a decorative stitch looks good on front and back even when it doesn't stay exactly on line in back.

I try to use the thread closest to the backing fabric in the bobbin. You have to look real close to see if it did hit your mark. If they are looking that close to the back, then they are nosy. Its going on a bed anyway so why would it be a worry if it doesn't match perfect. There are no quilt police on the board!

I'll tell you my secret...

I don't make my quilts to be reversible, nor are they for judging or sale...so I don't care what the binding looks like on the back, so long as it's attached and pretty on the front. *shhhhhh*

I prefer to hand stitch to the back just for that reason.

You and me both. I don't have time to worry about that. I have many more quilts to make!!! and may I say that they will all have machine binding on them!!!

Yep! :D If any of the above situations change, I'll think more about it...but I doubt that will happen. LOL

I sew most of my bindings to the front and then handstitch them to the back. On a few I've done it the opposite way only because someone in this family wanted their quilt NOW! :lol:

I don't use a special foot, just my regular one and keep it at 1/4 inch. I puddle/pool all my quilt on my table so I'm not fighting the weight while I'm sewing.

Yep, I tried the machine stitching approach on the baby quilt I have just finished, but only got a few inches into it before tearing it out and going back to hand stitching.

I usually sew the binding to the front and hand stitch the back. But I have used the backing material and brought it around front to make the binding and machine sewn it. There is no different or separate fabric in the back, so as long as you sew a straight line, it doesn't need to match any different fabric. Does that make sense?

I am going to try Sharon Schamber's glue method with curved binding on my next quilt to see how that works. I can't do any hand sewing since my carpal tunnel surgery a year ago, so I want to see how this works.

I just did a extra big queen quilt last weekend. I pinned the daylights out of it. Like every 1.5 - 2 inches. I only have a few places that didn't catch. It turns out, after close looking, that the binding was shorter in those areas. I hand stitched them closed. It's a practice thing :)

Yes, It makes perfect sense to me!!

Yes, I know about no more hand sewing. I had complete thumb joint repair in May. Just hurt it by doing 3 bindings on queen quilts and now I am back in the brace. I can't imagine if I would have done them by hand.

I had been doing the stitching on the back by hand ... after trying Sharon's glue method, I can do that last lap on the sewing machine now too! The only hand sewing is closing the miters.

I do find that pressing the binding after you sew it on the front makes the seam much crisper and it's easier to turn it to the back.

I just did two bindings by machine. I used a long narrow zig zag. Also helps for me that border, binding and backing are all the same fabric and thread was a good match. But, they came out great and I only had to fix one corner. so much faster.

I use decorative stitches on the front and if anyone complains (which they have not) then they would not get my quilt. That said, I use the machine method only on utility quilts - the really nice ones I do by hand in the back.

How wide do you cut your binding? I cut mine 2 3/4. That extra 1/4 in seems to make turning/sewing binding to front so much easier.

If I do mine on the machine, I cut 2 1/4" .2 1/2" when I used to do them by hand.

If you want to bring the binding on to the front of the quilt, try this technique. I use a decorative stitch when I stitch my binding on. As long as your binding is the same width all the way around the front, the stitch on the back should also be evenly spaced from the edge.

http://www.lorettaalvarado.com/binding.htm

Are they supposed to match? LOL

I sew my binding to the front then SID in the front and make sure to catch
the binding at the back. How do I make sure to catch the binding at the
back? I use lots of pins, then a thin line of Elmer's School glue, press,
remove the pins. Do this all around a a few feet at a time then start
sewing. Prepping takes longer than the sewing but it's so worth it.
Sometimes I might have to hand-stitch the corners but I'm not too anal
about it unless it really sticks out. For me the pinning is the most important
because that's where I check if the SID will cover it or not. If it's a little
too narrow I trim the batting a little as I go.
At first I would put a pin to see where the sewing line will go then it gets
easier and I can just feel it...like a nail length. I have short nails BTW. LOL
Does this makes sense? It would probably be easier if I could show you in
person. :)

I have done all my bindings by machine for years since I had hand surgery (joint resection for osteo-arthritis). I usually cut my binding
2-1/2" wide, fold in half and press, and sew to the front of the quilt. I next go to the ironing board and press the binding away from the quilt. Then I fold the binding to the back of the quilt and either pin, or use hair clips to hold the binding in place, and stitch either in the ditch, with blanket stitch sometimes, sometimes with the feather stitch. It doesn't look perfect on the back, but it gets done. If I had to do all my bindings by hand, none of them would get done, as even after the surgery, I still have to be careful not to overdo handwork.

Ditto

Me too. Love the look of hand stitched binding.

Try using a faux piping binding, it works really well and looks great too. Here is a link to a tutorial for it:

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

That is too cute! I'm going to have to try that! Thanks for sharing!

My pleasure! I hate hand work so this works for me.

This is my technique too!

Oh, I like this idea!! Thanks :)

You need to pin very close on the front after you bring your binding to the Back. As you sew in the ditch pull out the pins so not to hit a pin. Hope this helps.

I am in your corner also....

That or use the Elmers Glue on the back.

They have an attachment for my Bernina that does a very nice job with binding but it is very costly! I'll keep sewing the top by machine and the back by hand.

I've just never been satisfied with the way my bindings look when I've turned them to the front and machine stitched them on the front. So though it's much more time-consuming, I've accepted the fact that I'll just be happier with my work if I hand-stitch them on the back. It's a little more forgiving that way too in terms of being able to adjust the binding slightly as I stitch to make it perfect-looking on the front. Just my personal approach.

Dana

I am going to share a note that I heard. I am not sure I have it right. If you are going to machine stitch a binding, you start on the back and fold to the front. If you are going to hand stitch start on the front and fold to the back. Or is it vice versa. Can anyone help with this. This may make a difference.

That is exactly how I do it. Others may have their own special way's of doing it.