Good Morning, I have been registered for some time, and have enjoyed everyone's comments,hints, instructions etc. I have only made one quilt which I am ashamed to say I finished in a "quillow" fashion. I have made my DIL a wallhanging for Christmas, everything went great until the binding - oh my gosh, it has the dreaded wave. If somebody could please direct me on how to fix this I would be so very appreciative, my DIL probably more than me, since hanging such an unattractive item would be something she would do, because of she would never want to offend. Please any help would be so welcome.

The first thing is to unsew all of your binding :(

I am not sure what caused that, but I don't think there is any way of correcting it without taking it apart.

I am sure some of the other members can help with that question...
Were your quilt edges laying flat when you started sewing the binding on?

So the problem binding was made separately? (Not quillow fashion?)

Binding is more likely to ripple if it is cut on the bias. Most of us cut binding on the straight-of-grain. Bias binding is better for quilts that will get heavy usage (edge will hold up longer), but is not necessary for wallhangings or regular-use quilts.

You will probably need to remove the binding to get it right.

The biggest tip I can give you is to heavily starch the binding before you sew it onto the quilt. Actually, I heavily starch the fabric before cutting the binding! Starch stabilizes the binding so it won't stretch out of shape.

The other "biggest tip" I can give you is to use a walking foot to attach your binding.

Also, did you pin your binding in place before sewing? You really need to do this to make sure you are not stretching the binding out of shape as you sew. This applies to adding borders also.

I find it more difficult to sew a binding to an already-cut quilt edge, so instead I mark the quilt edge with a permanent Sharpie and pretend it is the cut edge as I sew on the binding. I don't actually cut on that line until after I have sewn the binding onto the front and need to roll the binding over to the back.

Here is a Youtube video of how one quilter handles binding:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PE0Yq9iGlc (3 parts to it)

and here is another video of how one quilter attaches binding completely by machine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wprg5vzkuGw (2 parts)

I think you will find them both very helpful!

I think maybe I messed up when I measured, probably not too sharp at this. I think the center of the wallhanging is smaller that the outer border - grrrrrrrrr. Of all the stupid things I could do this probably takes the biscuit. Will start unpicking, and try again, this time with a wider binding. Will just keep saying "I think I can" and dive in.

We have all made mistakes on our quilts, whether it is the first or hundredth, they happen :wink:

That's easy to do. Always measure the center of the block sideways and up and down. Doesn't matter whether it is just one block or a whole quilt. It's too easy to stretch the edges and get a wrong measurement.

Thank you ladies, I will now sit peacefully and remove the binding. Will carefully apply the new and let you know what happens. Thank you again.

One thing I've done if the wave isn't too bad is to take a long basting stitch in the ditch where the binding is sewn to the quilt and then gently pull it like you would if you were gathering fabric. Once you get the quilt to lie flat, stitch in the ditch to keep the gathering secure. Just be careful not to gather too much or you'll have puckers on the quilt.

Sometimes when the border or outside edges are not quilted as much as the center, it will wave on the edges.
I don't usually pin the binding on, so I've had trouble with binding on some quilts because I tend to pull the binding more than the quilt.

I just recently had to remove a completed binding and do it all over. Doing this teaches patience. LOL

Are you saying that the border is wavy as well, or is it just the binding?

The best way to measure the border is measure the center across the MIDDLE. Cut the border to that dimension and attach it to the center (each side). Ease in any imperfection by distributing the difference along the entire border. Then remeasure and repeat for the other two borders. (unless you are mitering your corners, then the instructions are a little more involved.)

I do continuous binding and never measure that part and I have never had a wavy border. Good luck - "unsewing" is never fun.

I am rechecking the wall hanging, yes the outer edge of the border is larger than the center by about an 1" OMG!!!!!!!! Guess I will have to nip and tuck this piece after I have removed the binding. Try, try again. Will let you know what happens, thanks for all the advice, I looked at the YOUTUBE and that's a great place to keep on a bookmark. Bea

A tip for next time, sew the border on with the border strip on top of the quilt top. The feed dogs will slightly ease in whatever is on the bottom. If you sew with the quilt on the bottom it will slightly ease it into the borders. You definitely don't want the borders eased into the quilt!

I had one come up wavy once. I was in a rush and did not pin it before sewing it down.