Binding

I'm having a heck of a time getting my binding to look good. I have Eleanor
Burns books on how to quilt and do the mitered binding, but when I go to sew
the binding to the backside I miss some of the material on the back. Then I
have to go back and sew over it again. Looks very sloppy. I tried sewing
from the back side and then the front of the quilt has thread all over the
edge of the binding and it looks like a drunk sewed it. Any suggestions
(besides I need more practice. LOL)?

Debbie

Are you sewing the binding to the back by machine? That is what I do,
but it does get tricky and takes some practice to get the binding to
wrap over far enough to catch it consistently. You could try gluing the
binding in place to the back with a basting glue or a water-soluble glue
stick or even Elmer's School Glue. Let the glue dry and then stitch it
down. The glue will wash out when the quilt is washed. Or you can do
like a lot of people do and sew the binding to the back by hand.

Julia in MN

Debbie wrote:
I'm having a heck of a time getting my binding to look good. I have Eleanor
Burns books on how to quilt and do the mitered binding, but when I go to sew
the binding to the backside I miss some of the material on the back. Then I
have to go back and sew over it again. Looks very sloppy. I tried sewing
from the back side and then the front of the quilt has thread all over the
edge of the binding and it looks like a drunk sewed it. Any suggestions
(besides I need more practice. LOL)?

Debbie




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"Debbie" wrote in message
news:AZjPg.1253$wU4.1031@trnddc06...
I'm having a heck of a time getting my binding to look good. I have
Eleanor Burns books on how to quilt and do the mitered binding, but when I
go to sew the binding to the backside I miss some of the material on the
back. Then I have to go back and sew over it again. Looks very sloppy. I
tried sewing from the back side and then the front of the quilt has thread
all over the edge of the binding and it looks like a drunk sewed it. Any
suggestions (besides I need more practice. LOL)?

Sounds like you're doing your binding by machine. (Good for you! Keep those
Quilt Police in a snit! LOL)

I'm not familiar with EB's book on binding, so I'll just tell you how I do
it, and you can take what lessons you'd like from it.

First, I sew the binding on to the *back* side of the quilt and flip the
folded edge around to the front. Then, to sew that edge down, I sew from the
front side, just about two threads in from the edge. If I'm really being
fussy about it, I use a thread in the top that matches the binding and a
thread in the bobbin that matches the backing, but since I heavily piece
most of my backings, I usually don't get that worked up about it. Yes, I
wind up with a line of sewing on the back that's just a tad inside the
binding, but I've never had a judge mark me down for it in a show.

My aunt also does binding by machine, but she has a different method. She
sews to the front, flips to the back with lots of extra binding. She then
uses a foot on her Bernina that she calls a Channel foot (as in Coco
Channel), and sews in the ditch made by the binding on the front side,
catching the binding on the back. I haven't been able to replicate that to
my satisfaction on my Janome, so I don't use that method.

As to looking like a drunk sewed it, well all I can suggest is save the
margaritas for AFTER you finish the binding. *grin*

--
Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
Queen of Fabric Tramps

http://fabrictramp.typepad.com/fabric_tramping/
remove the obvious to reply

Sounds like you're doing your binding by machine. (Good for you! Keep
those Quilt Police in a snit! LOL)

LOL. Didn't know we had quilt police!

First, I sew the binding on to the *back* side of the quilt and flip the
folded edge around to the front. Then, to sew that edge down, I sew from
the front side, just about two threads in from the edge. If I'm really
being fussy about it, I use a thread in the top that matches the binding
and a thread in the bobbin that matches the backing, but since I heavily
piece most of my backings, I usually don't get that worked up about it.
Yes, I wind up with a line of sewing on the back that's just a tad inside
the binding, but I've never had a judge mark me down for it in a show.

That sounds like a winner to me, Kathy! thank you very much!!!

snipped a little bit


As to looking like a drunk sewed it, well all I can suggest is save the
margaritas for AFTER you finish the binding. *grin*

I like your way of thinking!

Thanks again,
Debbie

--
Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
Queen of Fabric Tramps

http://fabrictramp.typepad.com/fabric_tramping/
remove the obvious to reply

Debbie wrote:
I'm having a heck of a time getting my binding to look good. I have Eleanor
Burns books on how to quilt and do the mitered binding, but when I go to sew
the binding to the backside I miss some of the material on the back. Then I
have to go back and sew over it again. Looks very sloppy. I tried sewing
from the back side and then the front of the quilt has thread all over the
edge of the binding and it looks like a drunk sewed it. Any suggestions
(besides I need more practice. LOL)?

Debbie


This is how I do mine:

http://quiltville.com/binding.shtml

There are also good instructions at:

http://www.quilterscache.com/StartQu...ltingfive.html

Where the binding is turned to the back I hand stitch it down with
little blind stitches. I usually tack the binding in place before I
handsew, so it may sit for a couple of months waiting for the last step
to happen!.

--
Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)
http://community.webshots.com/user/sallyswin

Just an addition to this.....I have a wavy stitch on my machine that I use
instead of sewing the front of the binding down with a straight stitch. Then
straightness and staying on the binding on the back doesn't matter so much.

Betty in WI
"

First, I sew the binding on to the *back* side of the quilt and flip the
folded edge around to the front. Then, to sew that edge down, I sew from
the front side, just about two threads in from the edge. If I'm really
being fussy about it, I use a thread in the top that matches the binding
and a thread in the bobbin that matches the backing, but since I heavily
piece most of my backings, I usually don't get that worked up about it.
Yes, I wind up with a line of sewing on the back that's just a tad inside
the binding, but I've never had a judge mark me down for it in a show.

Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
Queen of Fabric Tramps

http://fabrictramp.typepad.com/fabric_tramping/
remove the obvious to reply

Thank you for sharing all this binding info. I'll be the first to
admit, I'm a lurker, but I'm newish to quilting and I'm gathering
info. I have one quilt done so far, well except for the binding. For
some reason, binding feels scarey to me. And this thread helped a great
deal.

Thank you !
SandyFromNJ


Betty in Wi wrote:
Just an addition to this.....I have a wavy stitch on my machine that I use
instead of sewing the front of the binding down with a straight stitch. Then
straightness and staying on the binding on the back doesn't matter so much.

Betty in WI
"

First, I sew the binding on to the *back* side of the quilt and flip the
folded edge around to the front. Then, to sew that edge down, I sew from
the front side, just about two threads in from the edge. If I'm really
being fussy about it, I use a thread in the top that matches the binding
and a thread in the bobbin that matches the backing, but since I heavily
piece most of my backings, I usually don't get that worked up about it.
Yes, I wind up with a line of sewing on the back that's just a tad inside
the binding, but I've never had a judge mark me down for it in a show.

Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
Queen of Fabric Tramps

http://fabrictramp.typepad.com/fabric_tramping/
remove the obvious to reply

On Sun, 17 Sep 2006 22:27:44 GMT, "Debbie"
wrote:

I'm having a heck of a time getting my binding to look good. I have Eleanor
Burns books on how to quilt and do the mitered binding, but when I go to sew
the binding to the backside I miss some of the material on the back. Then I
have to go back and sew over it again. Looks very sloppy. I tried sewing
from the back side and then the front of the quilt has thread all over the
edge of the binding and it looks like a drunk sewed it. Any suggestions
(besides I need more practice. LOL)?

Debbie



I do it the same way as Sally, I hand stitch it to the back,
depending on the size of the project I can take it to work and finish
it on my lunch and breaks. I took me a while too to get it down
right. Hang in there.

Marie

I do use my machine to stitch down the bindings in certain items and I
always pin through the 'ditch' line after turning the binding to catch
it with the pin at the back. This lets me know in advance how much
leeway I have with the stitchline and whether I need to make
adjustments. The pins stay in place until they are reached with the
machine sewing - pin with the point facing to the left so that it is
easy to pull out before hitting it with the machine.
If you find that the pins do not tack down the back binding or are
consistentlyl too close to the edge of the binding - make the
adjustment to cut a wider strip for your binding - an extra quarter
inch should do it.
jennellh (change the mail to news)
http://community.webshots.com/user/barnyowl


Debbie wrote:
I'm having a heck of a time getting my binding to look good. I have Eleanor
Burns books on how to quilt and do the mitered binding, but when I go to sew
the binding to the backside I miss some of the material on the back. Then I
have to go back and sew over it again. Looks very sloppy. I tried sewing
from the back side and then the front of the quilt has thread all over the
edge of the binding and it looks like a drunk sewed it. Any suggestions
(besides I need more practice. LOL)?

Debbie

I do it by hand when it needs to look especially nice. And yes, practice
will help with the machine stitching! When doing it this way, trim the raw
edge of the quilt with ruler and rotary cutter after you sew the binding on.
(I don't trim the excess batting and backing beforehand, and I cut half an
inch from the seam line to make a nice plump binding using 2.5" strips
folded in half.) When the edge is trimmed, press the binding away from the
quilt on the right side. Turn everything over and press the binding "closed"
as you fold so that it just barely covers the seam line. Sometimes it helps
to trim off the corners of backing/batting to make a neat miter.

You can pin it before stitching, but I don't bother. Stitch right on the
edge of the binding, using thread colors in top and bottom that match as
well as possible. If you have pressed well enough, your line of topstitching
will fall right in the ditch on the front side of the quilt.
Roberta in D

"Debbie" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:AZjPg.1253$wU4.1031@trnddc06...
I'm having a heck of a time getting my binding to look good. I have
Eleanor Burns books on how to quilt and do the mitered binding, but when I
go to sew the binding to the backside I miss some of the material on the
back. Then I have to go back and sew over it again. Looks very sloppy. I
tried sewing from the back side and then the front of the quilt has thread
all over the edge of the binding and it looks like a drunk sewed it. Any
suggestions (besides I need more practice. LOL)?

Debbie