tropit

I haven't made potholders in years. I had some pretty blocks left over from a quilt project, so I thought I'd use them for potholder gifts. I quilted them and then tried to bind them using regular binding. However, the potholders wanted to cup and curl and refuse to lie flat after the binding was sewn on. I'm thinking of using bias cut binding instead, hoping that will solve the problem. Anyone else try this, or have any tips? Thanks.

~ C

Quiltngolfer

I think bias binding would work best on pot holders since the corners are curved.

grammasharon

I have made many potholders that are from left over blocks and QYG with strips. for QYG I use 2 1/2 in binding and have not had a problem. if I am using left over blocks I birth them. Found this works good if they are big enough 8 inches usually works well. For binding I found a site (sorry can't find it again) where she pinned where the two ends came together then cut the binding leaving half inch lap over and sewed at the pin mark. Works great. On 8 1/2 inch length I did have to begin sewing at about 1 1/2 inch from the corner, make my turned corner, go around and then stop about 1 1/2 " from last corner. Need to back stitch both start and stop. This gave me enough room to sew ends together without resistance. I found this works best for me. Hope I made this understandable and will work for you as well.

Mkotch

I cut my backing an inch larger all the way around the potholder. Then I quilt and make a self-binding. Works for me, and the corners are nicely mitered.

Geri B

Great idea!

ManiacQuilter2

I have made mug rugs using only a layer of insulbrite using 1.75" binding with square corners and never had a problem. If you have curved corners, you do need to make bias binding on any quilted item.

citruscountyquilter

I've made a lot of potholders and mug rugs with binding and never had it curl. If your potholder is square/rectangle then regular binding should work. If it is round/oval then bias binding is the way to go. Are you pulling the corners too taught or perhaps where you are joining the beginning/end is too tight. It can be a bit of a challenge in joining there because you don't have a lot of room to work with.

DresiArnaz

I found a great tutorial on bias tape that Angry Chicken did. I never noticed how one fold is smaller than the other and I never knew why.

Here is a link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4fEv3VXPUEs

It's fun and informative.

tropit

Thanks everyone! I ended up using bias-cut binding and that did the trick. I think that Quiltngolfer was right. I wanted rounded corners and the bias cut gave enough stretch to get around them without tugging on the rest. Lots of great ideas out there. It just shows to go ya, ask a simple question and get a plethora of good answers.

~ Cindy

Kitsie

Only problem I see with that method is that there is only one layer of fabric going over the edge of the quilt. If the quilt will get a lot of use that could be a problem. Good for hangings and such though.