If this happens most of the time when you're basting the entire quilt, try lessening the pressure on your presser foot/or lengthening your basting stitch.

i sew the layers together. i also baste the edges of my binding together.

that way, i only have "two" layers to align while attaching the binding.

no - in fact I discovered I have more problems if the edge is basted than open. I trim my quilt right after it comes off the LA (because I use the LA table to do it). But I machine bind, so I'm sewing the binding to the back.

I attribute a lot of my success to using a straight stitch machine with a narrow foot and narrow feed dogs. I had more problems when I used my swing needle machine before I bought the juki.

I always baste using a long stitch around the quilt. Then I trim off excess and sew binding to back, flip and sew to front.

Sometimes I trim then bind, while other times, I follow the same procedure as Prism99 but in both instances I sew a straight line of stitching all the way around in a bright contrasting coloured thread (that way I can see it – eyes are not what they used to be).

HettyB

When I make a quilt I make sure the outer borders are sewn on squarely whether they are mitered or not. After I layer my quilt and baste it (I like the Elmer's school glue method) I stitch around the outer edge with a long stitch. This keeps the layers from separating while I quilt it. Then, it holds the layers together when I trim it. I am careful to use a large square ruler when doing the corners to be sure they stay square. This works well for me. I generally sew the binding on the back by hand.

This is the way I do it also. Usually have no problems but sometimes there is a little pucker when finishing up sewing binding to quilt back.

Yes, doing that right now - I use a 3.5 or even 4.0 stitch length on my Pfaff domestic. That "one more step" is (to me) very important.

I typically don't bother but I've occasionally serged around my quilt edges before to make my binding easier.

I cut the batting off my quilts by finishing g the edges with a serger before I put 5he binding on, it gives me a smooth solid edge.