Thanks for the great ideas. I had a little strip quilt UFO sitting around for a couple of months and I just wanted to get it done and off my banister. It's just a lap quilt for watching tv with hubby -- who is always hot if it's over 40 degrees. I had the binding sewn on the front and the back is a simple muslin -- so I serged it. At least it's done. I'll see how fast I can finish the other little projects I have in the works ~ also all lap quilts.

Well, here's the serged edging on the little scrappy quilt I wanted to get out of the way. It was fast, but I think I'll do regular binding on the gift quilts.

25 years ago I made my little daughter a puffy quilt and I used my serger to finish it off. The quilt had a jungle theme and it had a bright pink in it. I disengaged the knife, used a wooly nylon thread in the lower looper, used a satin stitch and went all around the edges. I did this twice for a unique, different kind of finish. She got lots of wonderful comments about her blanket. I will now redo the edge for her little one. Try it, it works and looks great. Just be sure to use wooly nylon thread, it spread out and fills in gaps and use a satin stitch length.

I would NOT serge the edges. Give them a note that their quilt will be late rather than give them with sucky edges. Machine sew your binding down on both sides. Sure, my corners don't look as neat (because I've only done it once) but it was done.

I always machine sew my bindings....both sides.....I use a decorative stitch and line it up on the outside edge of the binding, then adjusting width to cover entire binding....it is neat, strong, and much faster than handsewing and there are some really cute designs that you can use.