Sewing Binding
 

Hi everyone. I'm a very new sewer/quilter and I'm new to these forums so forgive me if this has been discussed. I would like to know if its possible to sew binding onto a quilt using your machine? I have made one quilt and the book had you hand sew the binding. I found the hand sewing to be fun to do, but I'm just curious if you can do it by machine.

Many quilters sew their binding by machine. Sew bindiing to the back by machine then bring it around to the front and sew with a decorativve stitch. Goggle "machine binding" and you will see several tutorials. There are also tuts on this board.

some only sew by hand, some sew the back on by machine and then fold it over and sew the front by hand. I don't think it matters unless you will enter it into a quilt show because some of them have rules. I personally just completed binding two smaller quilts and did the whole binding on the machine. On top of that I found some premade quilt binding that I liked and used it, it's already folded with the back piece being slightly bigger than the front so that you are more likely to catch both fabrics when sewing it on both sides at the same time by machine. I used a decorative stitch so it looks really nice. Plus since the small quilts are going to kids the sewing by machine will hold up better; in my mind. Since I only worry about the police that can put you in jail I don't care what the quilting police say. Every one has an opinion on how it has to be done. I think you should do it the way you want.

I also suggest using google, you tube for videos, and also the search feature on this board. You will get lots of different options, and one or more of them may suit your fancy. I prefer sewing the binding to the quilt by machine, then hand stitching it to the back. I have used the decorative stitch once or twice, and it is fine, but I don't mind the hand stitching. It's all a matter of personal preference.

There are many opinions, videos,photos, and tutorials out there but no matter which version works for you the key to machine binding is going OMG slow. If you think you are going slow enough you probably need to slow down a bit more. The only time my machine bindings ever look decent is if they take me just shorter than forever to do. Other than going slow practice is really the only other thing that helps. Binding is a chore for me, I like to piece and quilt but binding--ugh /cry lol. No matter how you do it enjoy the process, the finished product and don't forget to post pictures. :-) :-)

I can't sew mine by hand. I sew the binding to the front and finger press it to the back with the back 'half' being a little larger than the front. I then stitch in the ditch from the front. The front looks very good if you are careful. The back looks okay. The trick is keeping the amount between the edge and the stitching line on the back relatively even when you can't see it. Make sure your bobbin thread matches the binding well.

I despise hand sewing of any kind, so I put my binding on by machine - both sides. I sew it down on the front first, flip it over and glue down, being sure to cover first stitching line, then flip back to the front and STID (right next the the binding) with a straight stitch and a color of thread that matches binding. I did one today exactly that way and it's done! No Hand sewing ever!

I almost always machine stitch my binding on. I have done it by hand and it does look nice but is too slow for me. I sew the binding on the back and turn it foward and sew it down with a fancy stitch. I fell that the bnding is more secure on the quilt when machine sewed. By sewing it from the front it tooks neater and "messy" stitching on the back is not as noticible. Remember there is no quilt police.