How do you Gather Your Binding?
 

The binding maker made me realize that people gather their binding differently. Personally, I am pretty new to binding because I used to self bind my quilts by extending the top and folding to back. Now, I just throw it over my shoulder and feed as I go. How do you gather your binding?

I make my binding ahead of time to be sure I have enough binding to go around. I give myself an extra 10 inches just to be safe. I use the 2.25, french fold as they call it. I press it and then roll it onto a TP empty roll, mark which quilt it's for and place it into a plastic container with all the rest of the bindings. Once it's time to attach the binding I found it's easier for me to bring my wool pressing mat to one end of my 4x8 cutting table as it's close to the ironing board and I glue it down while heat pressing it so I don't need staight pins. When I get to the 2 ends I glue it down also and pull out my little Brother machine to sew the ends together, trim and then finish gluing the binding down all to the backside these days. Then when I'm ready to stitch it down, my Brother machine again is at that end of the cutting table so the weight of the quilt is on the table and not hanging over the side. Press it to the front side and then stitch it down using the foot with the flange in the center and moving the needle to the right just enough to catch the binding. I found using those colorful clips instead of straight pins to keep the binding helps too. Elmer's Glue washes out with the 1st washing and I use just a thin line near the edge so it doesn't bother the needle.

I think you mean by gather, if i keep binding folded neatly or puddled on the floor as I'm sewing it. I drop my binding on the floor while sewing. I tried keeping it on binding spools but spool and all ended up on the floor anyway.

I usually have a container on my right. I try to make sure that I 'swirl' the binding into it, so that I don't get tangles. I have tried rolling it around a cylinder but that can make it stretch as it unwinds. The best idea I saw, was a cylinder that was suspended between two supports, so that the binding would feed off without twisting. I've never seen a commercial one but someone handy could probably cobble one together.

I fan fold mine ( back & forth) in about 10" long " skein" .When l'm ready to sew it, l open the drawer of little cabinet to right of my machine and set it there instead of using floor. It unfolds back & forth as l sew...so no twists to deal with 😊

Just puddled somewhere and pull out enough for the next pass through the machine. Honestly I don't find making or putting the binding on all that hard. I can do sewn on all the way, or sewn on front and hand stitched to back depending on the project. I recently started doing facings. I watched a bunch of Youtube videos and that gives a nice result sometimes depending on the project.

TL;DR (too long; didn't read) but here goes!

I do what I call "competition binding", that is bias cut, double folded French binding made in a continuous loop method. I sew onto the top of the quilt, miter the corners, do the continuous angle for the joining, and then hand sew with an invisible stitch on the back. When I sew the binding on the top, I start in the middle of a long side, leaving a nice tail to meld together with the other end. Some people can get by with very little, but I need probably 6-10 inches of fabric on each side. I will typically pin to the corner, then fold the miter and pin the next side to the next corner.

I wish I was better at machine sewing the binding and every now and then I'll give myself like a place-mat project for practice but I still prefer look of the hand sewing. I am terribly slow at the hand part and generally get cranky during the process, but instead of swearing I keep repeating "a kiss with every stitch". It works (sort of) for me.

I do generally cut/make my binding a bit wider than many prefer. For me it is the last chance to add fabric to the top. For the "competition" part, just make sure it is nice and full. That is don't trim your top/batting/back to a 1/4" seam and then use a 1/2" binding, trim it to fit your binding.

I used to iron it in half but something I picked up on maybe 5 years ago on this board was not pressing it, leaving it flat and simply folding it as I put it on. It allows for just that slight thread or two movement for the fold and I find I get better results.

I wind it around nice large stiff pieces of cardboard that still fits in my totes, some of it depends on what spare costco boxes I have around, but I like about an 18" piece. You can even count the rounds to have an idea of your yardage. There are charts and such but since I mostly make queen sized projects, I start with a yard and a half of fabric, and make that into a square of whatever size the fabric is (so typically somewhere between 40-44"). Even with a 3-3.5 inch binding, that is more than enough for a typical queen sized project.

For the cylinder idea, I used oatmeal containers many years ago -- but they were a bit sturdier then.

At the last national quilt show I went to, many of the ribbon winners had all sorts of bindings. The traditional full turned and hand stitched didn't seem to be the norm.

yes, this is what I do as well but have it sitting in an old letter holder, it is the perfect width for my binding.

I just have it puddled in my lap, and it sometimes falls to the floor.