Sunday, April 25, 2010

Binding Lesson -- Mastering the Final Joined Seam

A binding can make or break a beautiful quilt. 


Here's a slick way to join the final seam when applying binding to a quilt.  This tutorial uses 2" cross-cut double-fold binding strips, joined with mitered seams to distribute bulk.  Binding is applied to the right side of the quilt with raw edges aligned with the outer edges of the quilt, and corners are mitered. 
(PLEASE NOTE: This method may be applied to ANY size binding.)


STEP 1:  Leave about an 8" tail of binding free at the beginning, then leave an open space of about 8" to 10" between the beginning and ending of your binding, and another 8" tail free at the end.

 



 
STEP 2: Lay the RIGHT binding tail over your quilt, being careful not to pull or stretch, and aligned with the raw edges of the quilt. CUT it off a little more than halfway over the open space. 




 


STEP 3:  From the extra tail you just trimmed, SLICE off 1” to use as a measuring tool.











  
STEP 4:  Open out the segment you just trimmed off, and lay it out on your Right binding tail, aligning the ends, and overlapping about 1/2” above the binding. 



STEP 5:  Now lay the LEFT binding tail over the Right binding tail, smoothing it out, but again not stretching or pulling, and align with the raw edges of the quilt. You should be able to see your measuring strip between the binding strips.  CUT the Left binding tail exactly where the measuring strip ends.  

STEP 6:  Unfold and flatten the RIGHT binding tail with the printed side of the fabric right side up.  Unfold and flatten the LEFT binding tail with the right side of fabric facing down.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
STEP 7:  Fold the Left binding piece at a 45-degree angle and crease to find the stitching line. 











STEP 8:  ALIGN and match binding ends with right sides together with the Left strip perpendicular to the right strip, forming a “V”.   Pin and STITCH on the creased line.







 

STEP 9:  Check to make sure your binding lies flat, and did not get twisted somehow.










TRIM the excess seam allowance and PRESS seam OPEN which helps to distribute the bulk of the seam allowance.















STEP 10:  Realign binding strip with raw edge of quilt, and finish stitching up the remaining seam for a continuous binding.










STEP 11:  Turn binding to the back of the quilt, press, then HAND-STITCH using thread the same color as your binding.

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