cabbagepatchkid

I also stitch to the front and hand sew to the back. Here is a nice you Tube tutorial on how to do the double fold binding:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buCKs-Fgvb4

littlehud

I press my binding and usually sew to the front and hand stitch on the back. Pressing seems to make it easier to sew that back.

dunster

I also sew to the front, hand stitch to the back. I press the binding strip down the center before I start.

One thing that no one told me when I first started was that your binding should be absolutely full of batting. You might do a little sample piece to be sure that your binding will be full. It makes a huge difference in how good the quilt looks and how well it wears at the edges.

LucyInTheSky

I was told to NOT press the binding. The reason being, when you press, you're dividing the binding evenly in half. But, when you attach the binding, and pull it to the back to stitch it down, there's a little more than half of the material on the piece you see, and less than half on the piece you don't see, since the visible piece has to cover more distance.

Olivia's Grammy

I was told by a man that designed a "stitch in the ditch foot" that when you prepress the binding it is about 1/32 off. Now, not being a perfectionist I press my binding. I saw in a quilting magazine yesterday, (sorry can't remember the mag and it wasn't mine) that if you ziz zag with fusible thread on the back of seam, then press the the binding it helps hold the front while stitching it down. Haven't tried this yet, has anyone done that.
I stitch my binding on the front if I'm hand sewing, on the back and wrap to the front if I'm machine sewing. I'd rather the front look the best.

JANNY

Good point. I always presed mine, but will try no pressing on the next one to see if it makes much difference to me.

cabbagepatchkid

That is a good point. I press it in half to make the double binding but I don't press it half to divide the front from the back.

And as dunster said, I also like to have my binding full of batting so when I trim the batting I don't trim it even with the quilt top, instead I leave approx 1/4" of batting beyond the edge of the quilt.

butterflywing

that's what i was also taught. the top layer takes more fabric (it's called the rollover) than the under layer. if you press first the press line is wonky.

if you want to sew your binding by machine, stitch the binding on the back, raw edges together. now, PRESS ONLY AT THE PLACE WHERE THE LINE OF STITCHING MEETS THE QUILT. PRESS THE BINDING AWAY FROM THE BODY OF THE QUILT. DO NOT PRESS THE BINDING. VERY IMPORTANT. roll the binding over, unpressed, to the front just letting the stitch line show, so the binding is now just back toward the raw edge of the quilt. . using the blindstitch or hemstitch feature on your machine, follow that line of stitching so that only the stitch that jumps over catches the very edge of the binding that was folded over to the front. the reason you pressed the back away was to expose the stitching line so that when you stitched from the front, you didn't stitch unevenly over the binding. everything stays goodlooking front and back with no stitching showing. with your fingers, roll the back binding back over where you pressed it away. it should look really good. i've only done this with doubled binding,
not double fold.

MadQuilter

I press the binding in half and sew it on the front by machine. Then I hand-stitch it to the back. It keeps the front seam really crisp and clean (in case my hand work isn't consistent).

The only time I sew the binding on the back is when I machine stitch it from the front using a decorative stitch. That method is really fast and great for scrap/utility quilts. The decorative stitches hide where the seam lines between back and front don't match.

Luv2Kreate

That is how I do it too..but I do not use starch.