Quilting Tip of the Day
 

Quilting Tip of the Day: When joining binding on the diagonal, press the seams open BEFORE trimming them to 1/4". This is so much easier than trying to press seams open after trimming.

Great tip. I struggled with opening the seams up on a top yesterday.

Hmm...I haven't had any problems opening them up after trimming...and you only need to cut once that way as well.

Or am I misunderstanding something?

Same here for straight of grain binding. For bias, I simply sew them together using a 1/4" seam allowance so there is no trimming involved. I don't think I am understanding the tip. Or are we talking about that final join done while attaching the binding? If that is the case, I still trim first and finger press open.

I totally get it. I've come close to burning my fingers more than once trying to press seams open. This would be much easier. Tks, Nan.

That's a good tip!

This is a great tip. I was making a bias binding yesterday and tried this. I found that after I pressed the seams open I could fold them back together to cut them - used my small add 1/4" ruler to measure and cut with my rotary cutter. After I cut the excess away they folded back open with no more pressing necessary. Thanks so much for suggesting this. I'll never cut and then press again.

I do that all the time. I hate getting burned fingers

I still trim before pressing seam open, I finger press open before using the iron. I never burn my fingers. Also I always cut WOF.

I've been teaching this for years. It really works. After pressing open well you can close them up while you trim those seams. -Sew, open seam, trim.