Trimming down binding and backing
 

Between the time I quilt my quilt and I sew on the binding I have always trimmed down the batting and backing to equal the size of the quilt. Last night as I was looking through a Fons and Porter book I saw that they trim it down after stitching the binding in place. I never even thought of doing it this way. At what point do you trim down? Is there an advantage to doing it one way or the other?

I trim first. I don't see any benefit to having the extra bulk of batting and backing while I machine sew the binding to the front.

I trim first as I take it off the long arm.

I square the quilt up by marking with a pen. I sew the binding on with 1\4 inch seam using my marks as a guide. Then I trim with the ruler at 1/2 inch on the seam line. That way I get a nice full binding when I ladder stitch the binding on the back.

I sew first and then trim. I am always afraid I will get a piece of the backing missed if I don’t have that extra to keep an eye on it

A trim and sew on binding girl here too. Then I know it is square.

I have asked before how it works to sew a binding on before trimming. I don’t understand the purpose or the process. Can someone explain or provide a link explaining the hows and whys of this?

I trim, then sew on bindinh.

I would assume that it is as simple as lining up the cut edge of the folded binding with the edge of the quilt border. If the border is pieced, it may be that there will be little room to square up even if it might be helpful. Can’t help with the why, as I trim before adding the binding.