I do the same, with hand quilting I bind last also. While it's not as tight as machine quilting the batting can still shift with quilting and moving of my lap frame.

I bind the quilt top before quilting....so much easier. Of course, you can't do this if it is going to a long arm quilter, because they want to quilt off the edge. Back in the 90's. when I was a new quilter, I read an article about binding the top first, tried it, and have been doing it ever since. Also do this on placemats, table runners, etc.

Sue

Same here I always quilt, square up and then bind. There are less problems that way.

always bind last

I have been know to bind first then quilt by hand. Don't think it would work well at all for machine quilting. Two that I have done that way were actually finished and tied, but I decided I would like to have them hand quilted. The third one hasn't been quilted yet, but I wanted to use it on our bed and just quilt it as I have time and be able to throw it back on the bed. Unless there is a specific reason to put the binding on first, I think it's advisaable to quilt first.

I took a class at Road2CA in January, the instructor sews the binding on the top before she quilts and it actually keeps the edges from fraying, but she does not hand stitch it to the back until the quilt is completely quilted. Her name is Jean Brown and she uses the Aunt Becky tool for hand quilting, she is great and her work is beautiful, she has a web site.http://jeansimpressions.com/

Thank you! I think next one I do, I am going to try stitching the binding on the front and then quilting it, just to see how it works out..It might be a mess..but I guess it wont know till I give it a try.