I just finished binding my 4th quilt, this one is crib size, and I'm just not getting any better at this. It seems that no matter how carefully I cut, or slowly I sew, my piecing never seems to match up. I pin carefully when I make the sandwich, but when I stitch in the ditch there is inevitably a pucker somewhere, and I get areas in the quilt that look "pulled" in a direction. I use a walking foot, sew slowly, but by the time I'm binding it I think it looks awful. I find it difficult to sew a 1/4 inch seam on the edge of the quilt when binding, and the quilt back ends up a little smaller than it was when I cut off the excess backing and binding. I would love some tips to just "clean up" my technique. Or, am I expecting too much?

try matching your seams and use a glue baste. I was having the same problem until I discovered what glue & a hot iron did for me. =)

First be sure that when you cut your fabric you are on the straight of grain. It does and will distort blocks if they are not.

For the binding, leave at least 3-4" all the way around the quilt while you are quilting, quilting takes up fabric.
Second, don't trim the quilt until after you have sewn on the binding to the front of the quilt. Then trim, this will prevent the backing from shrinking back, it will be caught in your 1/4" seams.

Pinning every 3-4" is important, but I always use a spray basting product as well, It does help.

While I'm quilting, I start in the center of the quilt, place my left hand underneath, and feel that it is smooth. If I feel any movement in the fabric, I will adjust it before continuing.

When I move to another area, I try to start as close to where I just left off. Say I finished on the right bottom corner of a block, I would go to the left bottom corner of the next block. If you go to the next block and leave a large gap of fabric unquilted, as you work your way back to the previous quilting, it will inevitably have a pucker because the machine is pushing the fabric against a fixed point. I hope this makes sense, it's easier to show than explain.

PM me anytime if I can help you, I've hand and machine quilted for over 40 years and probably made every mistake in the book at one time or another.

I agree about glue basting your seams to get them to match. I take the work to my ironing board, line up the seams as I want them, then put just a tiny dot of Elmer's washable white glue in the seam line. Fix in place with a hot iron. The glue will wash out later, or a drop of water on your fingertip is enough to soften the glue to let you open up the seam.

To help with the puckering when quilting, I recommend heavily starching the backing fabric before layering. I use a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water, "paint" it on the yardage with a large wallpainting brush until the fabric is saturated, toss in dryer, then iron with steam. I also spray starch the top. Starch adds stability and helps keep the fabrics from moving as you sew.

I do wonder if your sewing machine is causing some of the puckering. Having your stitch length too short can be a problem, an old needle can be a problem, and sometimes a rough area around the needle hole can cause a problem. (The latter can be smoothed away with emergy cloth or extremely fine sandpaper.)

When sewing on the binding, I do it differently. Instead of cutting the quilt, I use a Sharpie permanent marker to mark where the quilt will be cut. Then I sew the binding on, lining up the raw edge of the binding with the Sharpie mark. I don't cut the quilt until after the binding is sewn on. At that time, if I need to, I can adjust the cutting line slightly to make sure the binding is going to roll over to the back and end where I want it. I can cut the quilt a little larger than my marking first, to see how the binding rolls, before deciding on exactly where the cut should be (because I can always cut again closer to the raw edge of the binding or even, if I dare, shave off a little of the binding if the batting is too thick for a good roll).

Have you seen Leah Day's video on attaching binding by machine? Even if you complete the binding by hand, it's worth watching for her tips. Here is a link to her binding videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wprg5vzkuGw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MRfA...eature=related

Thank you everyone! Your tips are great and I can see already how I can improve on the issues I'm having. It's so nice to be able to ask more experienced quilters for advice. You can only learn so much on your own from books.

practice practice

Have you tried basting spray to help with the quilting. It holds everything together better and there is less shifting and puckers.

Prism99, thank you so much for sharing the Leah Day tutorials. I haven't quilted any tops yet, but have six that I will be doing soon. I have been quite apprehensive about the binding process. After viewing the videos, I feel more confident that I will be able to successful. :)