We had a major quilt judge (Houston, Paducah- etc) come and talk at our guild. She said binding doesn't usually keep things out of shows, but it keeps things from placing. It is the easiest place to seperate the wheat from the chaff.

The sleeve wouldn't be judged unless your quilt was the absolute top, and tied with another quilt and they needed something to seperate Best of Show- then, every detail gets nit-picked.

She also told us that no quilt is ever perfect, it is just a matter of learning which mistakes have to be redone (any issues with mitred corners!) and which can be overlooked. She talked about needing to accept new techniques- such as fused bindings as valid. That is likely a technique the OP couldn't use. After learning about the Chicago School of Fusing and raw edged fused bindings, I do that all the time now, I hate traditional bindings, but unless the show requires traditional methods, it just isn't necessary.

The other thing she told us is that we would be absolutely shocked by how BAD the backs of some of the quilts hanging in major shows are. She picked up the Houston show catalog and flipped through it real fast- did anyone see a back? Nope, neither do the people who come to the show. So those quilts get the resume credit of hanging in the show- with puckers, eyelashes, all kinds of problems. Now, those quilts certainly aren't going to ribbon, the judges see all- but it really made me want to enter shows, because before I always thought of show quilts as flawless, and they aren't.

Her point about us not seeing the backs, is something to remember ... We're only seeing 1/2 the story ... and that other half may be hiding the answers as to why a quilt has not placed or received 1st!

"After learning about the Chicago School of Fusing and raw edged fused bindings"

I hate, hate, hate doing the binding. Can you please describe this method or point me to a link? A Bing search did not help, but perhaps I wasn't using the right search string.

Here is a handout I give in a lecture on judging. Hope it helps

Frequently Found Errors in Quilt Construction

1. Binding corners should be more accurately executed.
2. Mitering poorly executed...
3. Joining of pieced work should be more accurate...
4. Thread used for piecing should blend with the colors of the fabric.
5. Appliqué stitches should be smaller, tighter and/or closer together.
6. Thread used for appliqué should match the color of the fabric being applied
7. Regularly patterned fabric should be cut in relation to the pattern of the fabric, even when this does not coincide with the grain of the fabric in order to avoid the illusion of inaccuracy
8. Fabric grain not well handled.
9. Quality of backing fabric should be equal to the quality of the fabric used in the top.
10. Marking remains fixable.
11. Quilting stitches not uniform
12. Dark fabric shadowing through light fabric.

Weird, Bing didn't find anything helpful, first link on a google search of "Chicago School of Fusing Binding"
http://www.artfabrik.com/bindingdirections.htm