I first square up and trim the quilt. I make my binding 2 1/2" wide, folded and ironed in half. When attaching binding to a quilt, you do not use a 1/4" seam. What you do is sew in 1/3 from the edge, lift presser foot. One third is in the seam allowance, one third is on the front, and 1/3 is on the back. When sewing to the corner, stop at the same distance in from edge, fold fabric diagonally up, line up the edge and fold down. Start again at the very top and sew thru all fabrics, continue sewing till the next corner. I always check the corners and sometime have to go back and take a stitch or two more, they usually come out perfect. Since I do not want to spend time hand sewing the binding, I sew my binding on the back of the quilt, turn over (I iron it), the sew the binding on the front. Some of my friends even use a fancy stitch on the front. Here is a video of exactly how I do it (minus her measurements and seam allowance). Good luck.
http://www.mccallsquilting.com/mccal...nding_to_Quilt

I recently switched from stopping 1/4 and sewing off in an L shape to stopping 1/4 from the edge and turning and sewing on the 45 degree. I do this by folding a post it note (free binding tool ), laying it on the edge and sewing along the angle. I'm super pleased with how sharp the point is.

I finally can do nice corners. when you get to the corner sewing the binding on, cut your thread and then fold the binding back. It works. Heard this one on Fons and Porter, that is how Liz does it. Never thought it would work, but it does.

Sign me up :D

Fons and Porter had a wonderful show called Binding Bootcamp. I have been binding for more years than I care to admit and it helped me so much. See if you can find it on You Tube, or Fons and Porter . com. I think it was series 1900. I recorded it on my DVR and have watched it three times. What helped me the most is their method of connecting the end pieces. See if you can find it. Watch if more than once...it will help.

Another aspect of great looking corners is to sure they are absolutely square before you start to apply the binding. It is very easy for them to be a little bit off because the quilting in the borders either goes through to the edge or stops short of it-depending on your pattern. I square the corners with a 12 inch square ruler. At the same time I usually work my way around the quilt to be sure the edges are straight and even before putting the binding on. I usually make my bindings the width of the outside flange of my walking foot-I always use my walking foot to add the binding.

I sew my binding on the right side and very close to the binding edge. I stop an inch or so from the corner and work the fold then stitch. I can attest to the fact that it takes practice as I have ripped out quite a few.

EllieGirl, I'm so glad you brought your frustration to the board. They have helped me so many times and right away, too!! I was reading through this post before commenting and everyone has written so clearly how to make that corner work! (I could not have written it as clearly!) The ONE thing that caused me to be able to bind was taking a class on binding. One of my favorite LQS in OKC offered a class and my quilty friend and I signed up right away (this was years ago) and it has been the most helpful class I've ever taken!

Don't you just love all our quilty friends here on the board... Love you ALL!!!

Practice makes perfect. But there a few things here that I do differently. First, if your binding is going to be 1/4 inch, you need the binding a little wider than 1/4 inch times six. We need to make allowance for the thickness of the quilt. I usually sew the seam about 3/8 of an inch from the raw edge.
When you get the corner, it's very important to stop exactly on the spot that is the same distance from the edge of the edge of the quilt as the seam allowance you are using. Sometimes I have to lift the presser foot and back up half a stitch so I don't go over that spot. Then I sew on a diagonal into the corner. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE YOUR QUILT OUT OF THE MACHINE! I leave the needle DOWN at the very edge, the tip of the corner. If you have a little excess backing and batting here, that helps. Now with the needle down, turn the quilt so that you will be sewing down the next side. Now is when you do the folding of the binding; straight up and then straight down. The presser foot is a little in the way, but if you know what you are doing, you'll get around it. When the folds are all ready to be sewn, lift the needle and move the quilt over to the seam line and sew. I sew from the top. No threads to cut and no new seam to start with bunched up threads! You have just a seam's width of loose threads there, and they can stay there.

In total desperation I tried single fold binding. Sooooo much easier and it looks great. Not sure the reason for double fold???