franc36

I agree! I love putting on the binding for the reasons listed above.

MommaDorian

Here are some pictures of the binding on my last little project. Plus, a picture of the back. You can see the puckers in this picture. I'm just not happy with the binding. This is machine binding. I'd need a 1-1 lesson to learn to hand sew it.

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Tartan

It did take a while for me to master binding. I usually do the double fold, straight of grain binding on most quilts. I machine sew it with my walking foot to the front and hand sew it to the back. If I do an all machine binding, I do it from Charismah's Quick machine binding with flange tutorial on QB. Keep working at it and you will succeed.

Jennie and Me

If I want my quilt binding to look good, I always sew it down by machine on the front and then flip it over and sew it down by hand on the back side. If the quilt is going to be dragged through the mud(aka used a lot) then I will machine sew it to the back, flip it and machine sew it to the top...carefully. Been know to rip and repeat the process in places. I just have to keep telling myself to sew slowly. And yes, it takes lots of practice. Hang in there, it will get better.

heyjami

OH! Machine binding! Well that explains it.
Yeah, I don't think I could do it all by machine. I machine-attach the binding to one side and then turn it over and hand sew the other side. If you can't go somewhere that can you a quick hand-sew lesson you can practice on your own after reading instructions (books, here, etc).

It's only about 1-3 hours of hand sewing and it goes quickly and is very satisfying! Love that last step.

Good luck, keep working at it! This is the one area that us st

ArtsyOne

Aaaah - thanks for posting the photos. If you are planning on machine-sewing both sides of the binding to the quilt, you should attach the binding to the back of the quilt first, and then fold it over to the front so that you can lay it right on top of the 1/4" seam and sew along it. If you're planning on hand-sewing (my favorite part of all), then you should sew the binding onto the front of the quilt and fold it over to the back. It helps if after you do the initial machine sewing and before folding the binding, you take some very sharp scissors and snip away the extra batting between the two layers and take a diagonal snip from each corner.

Silver Needle

Thanks for the pics they show the problem clearly. The solution is the purchase of Clover Wonder Clips.

Begin by following the link above suggested in an earlier post using 2 1/2" binding. Do not skip the pressing step.

Sit down with your quilt in your lap right side fold the binding to the back (quilt still right side up). Take a Wonder Clip red side facing right side of quilt and clip it on. Make sure the very first ridge of the Wonder Clip is just off the binding but snugged right up to it.

Look on the back side. Just a little bit of the binding should extend past the end of the clip (1/16 - 1/8 inch). When you stitch in the ditch from the right side you will catch the binding on the back side. I only place my clips about
3 inches apart so I do a lot of starting and stopping NEEDLE DOWN to remove clips. I arrange the corner folds and put the clip on at a 45 degree angle to hold it. When I have to remove the clip I press down gently with a tailors awl to hold everything in place. Sorry your having problems . I always hand stitched mine until I found this method

paulswalia

The pictures help a lot, but I have one more question - is the diagonal seam in photo # 1 where you join the ends of your binding? If so, it looks like you need some help there getting a tighter fit. Start with about 10 inches of binding left loose (don't sew it down) about a third of the way down a long edge of the quilt. Sew around the rest of the quilt and before you get to where you started, stop sewing with excess binding left loose. Take the quilt out of the machine and lay it on a table with the quilt away from you and the binding edge near. Pin the binding coming from the left to the edge of the quilt so it's as tight as it would be if you had sewn it. Take the right binding and lay it on top of the left one. Locate a point where they overlap (you need to be about 3-4 inches away from where it has been sewn) and mark both pieces. Trim the left one off at that mark and trim the right one PAST the point marked at a measurement that equals the size of your original cut for the binding. So, if you cut binding at 2.5 inches, then cut the binding off 2.5 inches past your mark. Now, move the quilt into your lap so the binding is at the top. Join the two binding strips at right angles to each other, right over left and sew a diagonal seam from the top left corner to the bottom right. Check to make sure it is tight enough and sewn in the right direction before you cut off the excess binding beyond your diagonal seam. Then finish your binding.

As to the sewing by machine front and back - I have NEVER mastered that and find that sewing by hand is sew much easier. I think it's called a ladder stitch, but not sure. Run a thread along the stitiching line that is from sewing the binding on the front by machine, and run it about a quarter of an inch. Where the thread comes out of the quilt, put it in directly across into the binding and run the thread in the fold of the binding about a quarter inch. Where it comes out, put it directly across into the quilt at the seam line and repeat till done! Corners? Well you just have to practice!