quilterpurpledog

Give it a trial and see what you think. I find that I wind up with a 3/8" finish with 2 1/2 inch fabric cut. This is a double fold binding. I like the binding a bit wider but that is personal. If I made a small quilt I would opt for a narrower finish.

triplerosa

i always us 2&1/2 inches it easier to fold over for me

mustangquilts

When I am doing a single fold binding I do 1 1/4 strips. I have used 2 inches before and had no problem.

maviskw

Two inches wide for binding strips is fine. Just be sure the seam is well trimmed before you turn it; and don't cut off the fold at the corners. (Ask me how I know that.)

But if you don't have enough fabric, you can make your binding strips as narrow as 1.25 inches, cut another strip an inch wide, sew them together, and apply the resulting strip so that the part you want showing is facing the quilt (RST). The trash fabric you added will be folded under and no one will see it. For 2.5 inch binding I cut the good strip 2 inches and add an inch of trash fabric. For a 2 inch binding, cut the good fabric 1.75 inch wide and the trash fabric .75 inches.
You could even do 1.5 inches and 1 inch. As long as the trash fabric is less than the good fabric.

Pickle

I agree with this response. that is exactly what I would do if I could do the math!!!LOL LOL

QuiltnMyra

Prism, I love your recommendation about ironing. I've just finished binding my latest quilt with my usual 2" binding and it worked like a dream. Thank you.

bhanes

I like a narrow binding on some quilts. Cutting it 2" works great for me.

Prism99

Glad you were able to make sense of my somewhat garbled explanation!

justflyingin

This is my reasoning exactly!

Craftnut

I always use a 1-1/2 inch strip, folded over to 1-1/4. But I use a 3/8 inch seam so I have no excess on the back and a more prominent binding like another border on the front. I think it gives the quilt more of a finished look like a frame around the piece. The color of the binding makes a difference too.