GrammaO

I have never posted a tutorial before so I hope this will make sense. I have tried adding binding by sewing the the front, folding to the back, pinning all around and stitch in the ditch from the front. I have never been satisfied with how it looks n the back. I either have a big flap of binding outside the stitches or I miss the binding all together and have to go back and hand tack. I have better luck sewing the binding to the front of the quilt, folding to the back side and hand stitching. But it isn't the fastest way and I have been sewing on binding hours before the shower/birthday party, etc., that it is supposed to be a gift for so here is a quick way to bind a quilt that, I think, still looks good.
First, cut your binding strips the width you desire. For this quilt I used 2 1/2" strips.
Lay your binding against the raw edge of the BACK of the quilt. Using a generous 1/4" seam allowance, stitch the binding to the back side of the quilt. Turn binding to the front of the quilt and line up your needle along the edge of the binding and top stitch on the front side. You will be able to fold and feed the binding under the needle and keep your stitches nice and neat along the edge of the binding. Use a thread that matches your backing so the the stitches on the back side are nearly invisible. That way if you miss the ditch you can hardly tell at all.

craftybear

thanks for the tutorial, you did a great job, now we will be looking for more tutorials from you in the future! you got us hooked

The Quilt Gypsy

Thanks so much Terri! Binding a quilt intimidates me...I guess that's why I have only done rag quilts lol. Your tutorial is done in a way I seem to understand (I hope!). I'll give it a try.

Your quilt is beautiful!

quiltinghere

Great quilt - You put the binding down first with more than 1/4" seam allowance? I'll have to make up a sample piece to 'see' it. :)

Did I read right that you finished it 1/2 hour before the shower started?

That's a little tooooo close!

amma

Thank you very much for this tute :D:D:D

GrammaO

You're right, I did kind of wait until the 11th hour to finish the blanket. It was total procrastination on my part, so I can't even blame it on someone else. And yes to the first question. I put the binding on with an allowance larger that 1/4" but smaller that 1/2". Two reasons; first to cover my basting around the outside of the quilt, and second to give myself a better chance to hit the ditch on the other side. Don't know if this makes sense, but if you use 1/4" seam and wrap to the other side, the amount of fabric pulled around to the front is larger than the amount remaining on the back. when you top stitch, your bobbin stitches will be 1/4" or so away from the ditch into the field of your backing. By using a wider seam, the binding on the back is a bit wider, so when you top stitch the bobbin stitches are closer to the ditch and more invisible. Does that help?

Dragonfly Nana

I have had the same issues with my bindings and handstitching takes me longer that it did to make the top.

This back-to-front method sounds great. Thanks for the suggestion and tute!

Judy_M

Thank you for the info. Bindings give me a hard time, mostly the mitered corners.

littlehud

What a great tute. Thanks.

CAROLJ

Thanks! I'm finishing u a quilt, I'll try this.