Quilt in a Weekend Part 3: Binding

Thank you far all the comments. I just love seeing other people getting excited about their own quilt!


Now that our quilt is tied or stitched together, lets finish it off with the binding. Binding is just the fabric you sew on to cover the raw edge of your quilt, and if you've ever sewn bias tape on a project you will find this somewhat familiar.

You will need coordinating fabric, if I buy it, I usually get 2 yards. I had enough fabric leftover from my backing that I will just be using that up.

1.) Cut your fabric into 6 inch wide strips (enough strips to go around your quilt plus 6 inches).

2.) Sew your strips together, making one long strip...sounds familiar, eh? To make a strong joint, you will need to stitch a diagonal seam. To do this, place your strips (right-sides together) in a 90 degree angle. Stitch from corner to corner as indicated by the black thread.

3.) Cut the outside corner off, 1/4 inch away from the stitching.

4.)Take your strip to the ironing board, and press the it in half (wrong-sides together).

Now, you're ready to sew it onto the quilt. Here you must decide if you will finish the binding with hand stitching or machine stitching. With either method, you will use your machine to sew the binding onto the quilt first, in step 5. If you will be hand stitching, sew the binding to the front of the quilt. If you are machine stitching all of it, sew the binding to the back of the quilt.

5.)  Starting a few inches from the end of your binding strip, sew the binding onto your quilt (raw edges toward raw edges) with a one inch seam allowance.

6.) When you get to a corner, stop about an inch away from the edge...

...leave the needle down, turn your quilt, turn the binding strip to the 90 degree angle, and continue stitching. It will be a little wrinkly at the edge but you should be able to smooth it out where you're sewing.

7.) When you come near the end of your binding:
A-Trim it to a couple inches past the edge of your start.

 B-Fold the edges of your start, inward.

C-Then tuck the end into the start.

8.) Continue stitching until you've come back to your first stitches.

9.) Turn the quilt over, fold the binding over the raw edges, and stitch down.
**If you are hand stitching, just use a slip stitch.

If you are machine stitching, place the edge of the binding at the stitching from the back.

Stitch down 1/4 inch from the edge.

10.) At the corner, make a miter by:
A-Cutting across the corner to reduce bulk...

B- Folding the middle/corner point in...

C- Fold the lower edge in...

D- Fold the upper edge in, and adjust to make them, meet.

E- Sew, and turn the corner.

Just keep going until you've reached your starting point again.





Here's the finished product: