I have never posted a tutorial before so I hope this will make sense. I have tried adding binding by sewing the the front, folding to the back, pinning all around and stitch in the ditch from the front. I have never been satisfied with how it looks n the back. I either have a big flap of binding outside the stitches or I miss the binding all together and have to go back and hand tack. I have better luck sewing the binding to the front of the quilt, folding to the back side and hand stitching. But it isn't the fastest way and I have been sewing on binding hours before the shower/birthday party, etc., that it is supposed to be a gift for so here is a quick way to bind a quilt that, I think, still looks good.
First, cut your binding strips the width you desire. For this quilt I used 2 1/2" strips.
Lay your binding against the raw edge of the BACK of the quilt. Using a generous 1/4" seam allowance, stitch the binding to the back side of the quilt. Turn binding to the front of the quilt and line up your needle along the edge of the binding and top stitch on the front side. You will be able to fold and feed the binding under the needle and keep your stitches nice and neat along the edge of the binding. Use a thread that matches your backing so the the stitches on the back side are nearly invisible. That way if you miss the ditch you can hardly tell at all.

thanks for the tutorial, you did a great job, now we will be looking for more tutorials from you in the future! you got us hooked

Thanks so much Terri! Binding a quilt intimidates me...I guess that's why I have only done rag quilts lol. Your tutorial is done in a way I seem to understand (I hope!). I'll give it a try.

Your quilt is beautiful!

Great quilt - You put the binding down first with more than 1/4" seam allowance? I'll have to make up a sample piece to 'see' it. :)

Did I read right that you finished it 1/2 hour before the shower started?

That's a little tooooo close!

Thank you very much for this tute :D:D:D

You're right, I did kind of wait until the 11th hour to finish the blanket. It was total procrastination on my part, so I can't even blame it on someone else. And yes to the first question. I put the binding on with an allowance larger that 1/4" but smaller that 1/2". Two reasons; first to cover my basting around the outside of the quilt, and second to give myself a better chance to hit the ditch on the other side. Don't know if this makes sense, but if you use 1/4" seam and wrap to the other side, the amount of fabric pulled around to the front is larger than the amount remaining on the back. when you top stitch, your bobbin stitches will be 1/4" or so away from the ditch into the field of your backing. By using a wider seam, the binding on the back is a bit wider, so when you top stitch the bobbin stitches are closer to the ditch and more invisible. Does that help?

I have had the same issues with my bindings and handstitching takes me longer that it did to make the top.

This back-to-front method sounds great. Thanks for the suggestion and tute!

Thank you for the info. Bindings give me a hard time, mostly the mitered corners.

What a great tute. Thanks.

Thanks! I'm finishing u a quilt, I'll try this.

Timely tutorial!! Hopefully I will be getting my quilt to this stage soon and I will try it! I guess I'd better practice first, but the instructions are very easy to follow!

Great Idea....will have to try this on the wallhanging I am doing now........any more ideas?????????????

I also do this the same way except I use the applique stitch on my machine (babylock). It's the stitch that does three small straight stitches and then a side stitch to pick up the binding edge. If the stitch is set small enough then it looks like hand stitching on the front. I use the color of the binding for the top thread and the color of the backing for the bobbin and it becomes almost invisible as a result!

great tute and is very tempting to finish a quilt that way but i'm too set in my ways and still prefer the hand stitched look..........

Thanks, that was both clear and helpful... Will be trying it soon.

great! but I have a question: When you say top stitch the front, are you referring to a straight stitch or a special stitch? If you use a special stitch ,would you describe it?
I haven't made a decent binding yet.
carol(ceegee)

Yes thank you for the info! I do like the look of hand stitching the binding, but it takes me so long. It takes at least 1 hour per side on smaller quilts and as much as 2 hours per side on larger quilts. Does it take everyone else this long or am I just REALLY slow?? I have only been quilting about 2 years so I'm still somewhat new to it.

I just did this method this past weekend. Works like a charm. Looking forward to more tutorials. Thanks.

Hi, many thanks for sharing this. One question if I could, why do you sew a "generous" 1/4 inch seam?

I will try this technique. Thank you.

This is a very nice tutorial. Thank you so much! Your quilts are beautiful. What is the name of the one in the bottom picture with the squares and stars? Thank you.

Thanks for the tute - I will try this on the one I am quilting now, but 1 question - do you still miter the corners the same way?

If I sew the binding on by machine, I do it just like you, except I use the sewing zigzag, which has the small stitches going up and down, not the big one stitch zigzag, instead of just a straight stitch. I fold the binding from the back to the front, and folt it just past the stitches from where you first sewed on the binding, and then I try to sew so that the zigzag comes as much exactly on the edge as possible, just to the edge of the binding and not unto the quilt part.

I think you did a great job on your tutorial. I will try this method with my next quilt. Thank you so much.

Thanks for the tutorial. I FINALLY got my continuous binding right on the first try with my 24th quilt! I tried doing machine binding the way Leah Day does it on her tutorials, but I wasn't happy with the results. I ended up hand sewing it in the end. I'll have to give your way a try.

Good job explaining that. That is the way I have done it for years. I don't like to hand-stitch because I want my quilts to be durable and very washable. Since most of mine have been for kids and babies I find that the best way. Most people aren't scrutinizing the back binding anyway, just the front.

Thanks for taking the time to provide a tutorial for us. Great technique. I'm going to try it on the next quilt I finish!

Thanks GrammaO! The last quilt on which I sewed the binding by hand caused a numb thumb and middle finger that STILL haven't recovered, 4 months later. I'll be trying your method for sure!

Sue

Look back to page one. Another person asked the same question. It's a good one and I hope I explained it clearly.

Thanks so much. I have been looking for a solution for this for years!!!

Yes, I do, and that's another reason why I like a little wider binding strip to begin with. When it folds over you still have enough to work with. I stop stitching a couple of inches back, then do the corner, hold with a stilleto and stitch into the inside corner, then pivot and stitch on down the next side. If the corners look loose I go back and hand-tack the little diagonal section to secure.

I love to do my bindings back to front. Sometimes a decorative stitch on the front is nice.

Carol, on this quilt I just did a straight stitch but i did a table runner and used a decorative stitch. I have a Baby Lock Quilter's Dream and used the stitch that looks like leaves. Any decorative stitch should work as long as it catches both the binding and quilt top.

It came from Eleanor Burn's Tennessee Waltz book. It looks more complicated than it is, although I did buy the ruler that she sells on her Quilt in a Day website that helps make the star points.

Thanks to everyone who left a comment! I am still a fairly new quilter so I really appreciate your feedback. I don't know about another tutorial-I'm still learning so much from all of you I can't imagine that could teach anything you don't already know! If you have any suggestions of how i could do better, please, please let me know. If I ever do another tute I will be sure include the 'why' as well as the 'what and how'. Thanks again!

Thank you so much! Binding intimidates me so much, but I will try this method!

This was a great help for those of us who want to get it done quickly. The pictures are great and the stitch widths really help explain the whys! Thanks so much!

Excellent tutorial...share more ideas with us. I've been hand stitching mine on the back but worry about how well that will hold up in a utility quilt. I'll try this next time.

I really enjoyed the pictures and description. That looks like a great solution for a baby quilt that will be used and washed a lot. Your quilt is darling too.

I thought I was the only one who did my bindings the way you have discovered doing yours. I cannot do hand stitching...it is too tedious. I decided -quilt police- be damned. I do it your way and am satisfied with the results. HOORAY for US!!!

Probably if I was ever going to enter anything into a quilt show or fair I would hand stitch, but i am a looooong way from that level. Most of my blankets have been for grandkids and I'm more concerned about them surviving multiple washings than a close inspection of my workmanship. I was told once that the binding is the first thing to wear on a quilt, so I always double the fabric and the topstitching ensures that it won't be pulling loose. Thanks for thumbs up!