Skeat

I have always, when done w/a quilt, cut off to the edge of the quilt, tacked on the binding w/pins and sewed by machine all the way around...only then whip it to the backside of the quilt by hand sewing it down.

I have a friend that suggested machine sewing it down instead of by hand. I noticed (and didn't think about it till later) she had about 1/4 of the batting and backing past the edge of the top layer of the quilt. Is this what you do?Or do you cut your quilt before binding flush too??And, then I ask myself..why do I cut it to the edge?I have no idea! I guess I thought you were supp. to!:)Tag you are it!! Skeat

mic-pa

I never cut it off even until I put the binding on by machine on top first, then cut it even, turn and hand sew it to the back. A lot of people sew it by machine on the back first then turn it to the front and sew it by machine again. In that case you would have to cut it even so as to know where to sew. Marge

k3n

I have read on here - sorry can't remember who - someone say they leave about a quarter inch of batting past the edge to 'fill' the binding. I'm about to bind a lap quilt for my neighbour and am going to try that. BTW I machine to the top and hand sew on the back.

K x

butterflywing

what does BTW mean?

MadQuilter

I cut the edge clean (and square) AFTER the binding is sewn down. Then I turn the binding and hand stitch (for the nicer ones). Sometimes, I sew the binding to the back of the quilt, trim the edge, turn the binding to the front and use a decorative stitch with my machine to sew it down.

Jim's Gem

I square up the quilt and cut the batting and binding even with the top. Then sew on binding with a slightly larger than 1/4" seam, (I use 2 1/2" strips for binding) then turn to the back and hand sew down.

BellaBoo

I trim the quilt layers even then I sew all around the edge with a 1/4 zig zag stitch. This keeps the edge flat and make sewing the binding on su much easier. I use the zig zag as a guide when hand sewing or machine sewing the binding in place.

fabricluvr

BTW = By The Way

i've seen an episode on Quilter's TV about doing the binding entirely by machine. i'm usually in too big of a hurry at that point to do anything that neatly!

sidmona

I machine stitch on the front, trim even, then hand sew the back.

JoanneS

I serge edges together, thus cutting excess off. Serging puts the layers together neatly . Then I sew on folded binding, raw edges usually on the back. Then I either hand sew or decorative machine stitch. I often add a hanging sleeve before sewing the binding on - just add it between the top binding and back of the quilt, then sew it down by hand.