Scrappy binding question
 

How do you make your scrappy binding? When I first began making scrappy bindings, I used strips that were about 20" long x 2 1/2" wide. Now I am re-thinking the lengths & am wondering if 20" is too long for the pieces. If I make them shorter (like around 6" to 10") I would get more variety in the binding. Of course if I was making something like a small table runner or wall hanging I would have to make the strips shorter in order for the binding to be "scrappy".
Just looking for some suggestions/advice on how to make the binding. Thanks!

I cut my scrappy binding in lengths of 6" to 8" and cut it 2 1/2" wide. I think cutting it any smaller in length then you lose some of the scrappy look.

I honestly never really measure my length. I piece whatever I have and think would look nice. I am sure that I have used 10" lengths. I don't know if I would go much smaller than 10" for a bed size quilt

if you are making a scrappy binding for a table runner I would probably figure using strips about 1/2 length of the side. make sense? like if the the table runner is 20" x 40" I think 10" would be fine

just my opinion though Do what ever you think looks good

It's whatever you want to do to use up/get more fabric in your top. I prefer bias binding and usually do the continuous loop method, but other times I do other things whether that's just going on the straight of grain or I've completely pieced bindings before with pretty small units. But I "cut and sew straight" that is on the grain and then cut on the diagonal, so I assemble the binding like any other strip pieced unit.

For one of my current scrap tops that will be a heavy use quilt, I'm going to use up leftover pieces from other projects, Each side should be most of one fabric, I'm hoping I have enough long pieces that there will be 4 total but they will be offset so each will go around a corner, not just one fabric to a side. I can always put in a piece in the middle of a long side to get the effect I want.

edit: Often the units I'm using up in my bindings are leftovers from cutting the top so are based in whatever sized units that was. One rather nice effect is to take a longer piece of a dark solid and periodically piece in narrow bits of colors, can look great on an Almost Amish or more modern look.

Here's the only picture I can think of showing one of my pieced bindings:

The first time I attempted a scrappy binding I went about 12” but not all exactly the same. Looked great until I started pinning to the quilt top.....I found I could not avoid having the joints end up at one or more corners. Because my lengths were irregular I couldn’t really just do the math. After an hour of adjusting I switched to a solid binding. My advice is cut your strip lengths based on the size of your quilt so you don’t have the same problem. For example if your quilt is 60”x80” you could use 20” strips if you start 10” from the corner. 15” strips would also work if you started 5” from a corner.

Apologies if I am pointing out the obvious but it was a real Doh! moment for me!

I varied the length of each piece - no rhyme or reason.

One other question about this. Smaller strips means more seams & more seams means more bulk. Is this a problem for anyone who makes them with shorter strips?

the only problem i have with scrappy bindings is the seams. it is hard not to have one or more fall in the corners. makes it a bit more difficult to miter them well.

the problem I see is that you have more of a chance for one of the seams to fall on the mitred corner, making it difficult to fold the mitre well

The mitered corners have not been an issue with me. Since I cut my scrappy strips long and I make more binding than I need, when I come to a corner with an issue I just cut off the seam & resew it to bypass the corner. I do the same thing on my non-scrappy bindings when a seam falls in a corner.