QuiltE

Alas? ... I guess because it was after the long process, it sas alas! For me, in the binding stage the quilt really seems to come to life as we tidy up all the loose ends, burying them into the binding!

No foggy brain on your part. It was more on my part! As I was typing it out, I knew it really did not make sense. I tried to reword it and was only getting more bogged down, so I gave up.

OK ... Take Two ......... Machine sew the binding on the front of the quilt. On the inside of the seam (what gets buried in the binding) I sew close to the raw edge, to stitch all layers of the quilt and binding together, all the way around the quilt. Doing this, I find it helps keep all those layers in place, as I bring the loose binding from the front to the back, to hand stitch, instead of parts of it rolling or flipping around inside. Gives a nice, sharp, fully filled binding, once finished. Clear as Mud?? Maybe murky water at least?

It should be noted, that there's nothing "official" about doing this.
It's just my own habit/technique that I started doing and it works ... for me!

QuiltE

PS to Janie et al ....
OOPS! I should have said it above .... if you have any further questions, please be sure to ask!

JanieW

QuiltE yes, that makes sense now. Thanks for clarification; great idea.

i think alas means something different to me than it does to you.😄

LAF2019

I square up the final quilt before binding. I use a reference on the body of the quilt to keep things consistent. for example, instead of assuming my border is straight and just trimming it along the edge of that, I will put my ruler on an inside square and trim to 6" (or whatever) outside of that inside seam. For this reason, if I want a 6" plain border, I often will make it a bit wider so I have plenty of room to trim up to the desired size in the end. My piecing is generally more true to square than the borders.
But, if I had a whole cloth kind of quilt with no standard reference line to square to, I would have an anxiety attack and just use the "hope and pray" method of cutting!

QuiltE

Thanks JanieW ... I looked it up and whooooaa, all these years I have been totally using it wrong. No wonder you asked why I had used it. Much appreciate your letting me know.

Stitchnripper

I square up at the end making sure the corners are square and then matching up the sides to the corners. Sometimes I have to “ease” in something. With few exceptions over the years they all come out square enough, lie flat and look good. They aren’t for show and after using, it just doesn’t matter to me if one is an eighth or quarter inch off on a side. I just read where some quilter just trims the sides and doesn’t actually square off her quilts. Maybe her piecing is more precise. I don’t pre wash and rarely use starch. I don’t have a stash so all my fabrics are new and I’ve never had a bleeder.

Andrew Crowley

I try to keep all of my piecing square across the top, and I usually add a large border. I quilt, then square the entire quilt, giving or taking 1/4 to 1/2 inch in the border when trimming it square before binding. I even fold the quilt (after trimming) and match up all the corners to ensure the quilt is perfectly square before binding.

JanieW

no worries! I was puzzled; wondered if it was an auto correct from Voila! Mystery solved. 😄

WesternWilson

I found this video on how to apply borders (including inner borders) extremely helpful!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vej7dBgump8

When I wing it and just sew on strips I get too much waviness in the borders, especially the outer borders, that make quilting the quilt very challenging.

From now on I will be more careful and take more time adding borders properly!

Gemm

Thank you, WesternWilson, for this link. I have also had issues with this and never knew there could be such a simple solution (painstaking, yes, but still pretty simple). Much appreciated!