maviskw

If you check out posts #33 and #35 on this thread, you will find a lot of information. I know it is a lot to read, but I hope it would be worth your while.
Post 41 on this thread is another one to look at. It sends you to a site that says it can't find the web page. So type in "binding ends" into the search box and you will find another method of joining ends of binding. It is class or entry no.2.
Then check the posts in the thread from today's Quilting Board that says "Mitering Corners" Lots of good information there also. Lots of good ways to do something; you can choose which one is best for you.

As for how much binding you need, it is exactly as much as the perimeter of your quilt, plus the width of the binding. If your quilt is 60 X 72, that makes 264 inches plus the 2 1/2 for the width of the binding= 266.5 inches. Divide by 12 and you have 22.2 feet or 7.4 yards.
A binding 7 1/2 yards long should do it. A little more is better than not enough, but we tend to over-do that.

captlynhall

My biggest challenge is attaching the two raw ends together once I sew the binding around the perimeter. I purchased The Binding Tool, after watching Jenny Doan explain its use on a Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial, and if I use that I can do a decent job. But otherwise, it seems impossible for me to figure it out on my own.

I actually love to hand bind. It is like the putting the icing on the cake.

captlynhall

klgls,
I couldn't have said it better. I just realized that since all my quilts are given away, it is the last time I have to spend with them. Since I hand quilt, it sometimes takes me 6-9 months to get to the binding stage. It is also the one part that I can do sitting in the living room with my husband. I sit in my favorite chair, the quilt spread across my lap, and find the steady rhythm of hand binding is soothing to me. I get to watch my quilt as it inches closer and closer to being finished. There is much joy in that final stitch.