Binding your Quilt
We are almost through with our project. All we have to do now is trim our quilt and bind it. Let’s Begin.
1. Trim your quilt. Line up your ruler with a straight line on your quilt and trim along the edge of the quilt. You will need to move your ruler along carefully, lining up to the straight line each time. After trimming the first edge, turn your quilt and repeat the process until you have trimmed all four sides of the quilt.
Photo 75:
Photo 76:
2. Cut your binding strips.
a. For the table topper you will need approximately 148” + an additional 50” in
order to miter the corners and finish the binding so that you cannot see where it
starts and ends.
b. The table runner will need approximately 158” + an additional 50”.
c. You may have more than enough binding, but it is better to have too much than
two little
3. If you are going to make your binding on the straight of grain, cut strips 2 1⁄4” x width of fabric until you have enough to complete the binding. Then cut each end of the strips at a 45 ° angle.
4. If you are going to make bias binding, follow the photos below to fold and cut your fabric.
| Photo 77: Begin with a piece of fabric (approximately a square – a fat-quarter will work great) |
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| Photo 78: Take the top right corner and fold in half diagonally. |
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| Photo 80: Now fold the top right corner diagonally to make a smaller triangle. |
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| Photo 82: Rotate the triangle so you have straight sides of the folded sides of the triangle at 90 ° angles. Have the two folds of the triangle to your right (assuming you are right handed). |
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| Photo 83: Fold the top of the triangle down along the folded edge. |
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| Photo 84: |  |
| Photo 85: Align you ruler to a straight edge of the fold and carefully trim the fold on the edge away. |
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| Photo 86: Carefully turn you fabric and cut strips 2 1⁄4” wide. |
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5. Make your binding.
| Photo 87: Trim the corners of your binding strips. |
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| Photo 88: Align the angled edges of your binding (the strips will be at right angles to each other). Stitch using a 1⁄4” seam.After all of your strips are stitched together, carefully press the seams. I always press both of my seams in one direction; however, you may want to press them open. |
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| Photo 89: Carefully press the binding in half. |
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6. Sew your binding to your quilt. You may sew it either on the back of the quilt and fold to the front when finished, or sew to the front of the quilt and fold to the back. I prefer to stitch it to the front, then fold to the back. I can finish it by hand stitching the back of the binding, or folding it over and “stitch in the ditch” from the front side to catch the back of the binding.
| Photo 90: Begin stitching about a 2/3 of the way from the corner of the quilt, leaving a tail of about 10” unstitched.Place a pin about a quarter inch from the bottom corner and stop stitching at the pin, backstitch a couple of stitches. |  |
| Photo 91: Remove the quilt from under the presser fool and turn the binding back away from but parallel to the bottom of the quilt bottom. |
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| Photo 92: Now carefully fold the binding back over and parallel to the bottom of the quilt, with the fold even with the edge of your quilt.Be sure to keep your diagonal fold shown in Photo 91. |  |
| Photo 93: Begin stitching at the edge of the quilt and stitch to the next corner repeating the process described above.Stop stitching about 1/3 of the way down the last edge.You should have a long tail and about 1/3 of the side of the quilt unstitched. |  |
| Photo 94: Fold the ends of your binding as shown in photo, butting the ends up against one another. Finger press so that you will be able to see the crease. |  |
| Photo 95: Mark each end of the binding as shown, marking the straight lines on the fold marks. |  |
| Photo 96: Pin together as shown at right, matching your center marks on each tail, and stitch as shown by the red arrows. |  |
| Photo 97: When pressed and turned, your binding should lay straight against your quilt. Stitch down. |  |
7. Turn your binding to the back side of your quilt, mitering the corners, and pin.
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| Photo 100: Stitch in the ditch along the front side. Or you may wish to hand stitch on the back side. |
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| Photo 101: Back side of quiltI have used contrasting thread so that you could see the stitches, if you use color-coordinated thread; your stitching would be hardly noticeable. |
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CONGRATULATIONS, YOUR QUILT IS FINISHED.
If you are in the Dallas, TX area, we hope you will join us for our Sew Along event – Saturday March 22nd from 10am – 12pm. Even if you did not finish your quilt in time, come and see what others have done. Hope to see you there!
Please RSVP using the form below so we can plan accordingly.
If you’re not in the DFW area, let’s have a Show & Tell on our Facebook page. We’re there to answer questions, hear about your experience (success or failure) and are excited to see pictures of your garments and quilts, finished or not!
Plano ASG Show & Tell Event
Christ United Methodist Church
3101 Coit Road, Plano, TX 75075 (Southwest Corner of Parker & Coit Road)
Room N154 (Entrance closest to Parker Road)
10am – 12pm
