When you're designing a quilt for yourself or a loved one you want each element to be thoughtfully added to the design to make it the most special it can be. You can always use premade binding from any craft store but it's much more exciting to be able to add the perfect pattern and color mix to your other fabric choices. There are specific tools designed to make this job even easier but if you don't have those tools on hand, you can follow these directions.
Let me also mention that this type of binding is not the traditional, time-consuming but also quite lovely, method of stitching the edges down on one side of the quilt, folding back on itself and over to the other side, pinning, and hand-stitching. I've done that method on only one of the many quilts I've sewn in the last eight years because I wanted to try it. I love the look of it but I don't have the patience for using that method each time. This is my go-to binding method. Sandwich binding? I think that's a good term for it.
To determine how much you'll need for a specific quilt, measure the perimeter and then add about six inches to be safe. You don't need ten yards of fabric, just between 3/4 and 2 yards of fabric depending on your quilt size. My most recent crib-sized quilt only needed about 3/4 yard but a king might need about 2 yards. You'll be sewing strips together end to end to create one continuous strip. I always like to prepare my yardage by ironing it on a steam setting and then cutting off any selvage edge to create a clean line.
1. After you've cut 3" strips of fabric as long as your yardage, place two ends in a right angle with the top strip facing down and the bottom strip facing up. Pin. 2. Stitch from the top corner where the two strips meet to the bottom corner as shown. Trim excess leaving about 1/4" seam allowance. 3. Unfold to create a uniform strip and press your seams either to the same or opposite sides. 4. Fold each side in about 1/3" and iron flat. I usually fold over and iron as I go all the way down one side before doing the other side.
5. Then fold almost in half and iron flat all the way down. The top half should be a smidge narrower than the bottom half. 6. You can see the bottom half peeking out a bit. Once you start you'll put the bottom half under your quilt and stitch through from the top. If it is a little bit wider than the top, you'll be sure not to miss it as you stitch it on. 7. I made much more binding than I needed for this quilt because I know I'll use this print again in the future. To keep things organized I cut some chipboard, folded it in half, and taped one end of my binding to it. 8. I wrapped and wrapped until the end and tucked it in. I later secured it with a straight pin to keep it in place until I was ready to use it.
It may not be realistic to have rolls of binding stacked in your sewing area but if you know you're going to use a specific fabric as the binding on your next project and maybe only have 30 minutes to work on something this is a great way to work ahead so that when you're ready to bind, you can get right to it.
-Rachel
You make me want to learn to sew and make quilts like these SO much.
Hopefully one day I will. :)
Posted by: Eve | 09/12/2013 at 11:43 AM
You just saved me so much time! I'm making my first quilt and the only binding I read about was the time consuming fold over itself way you mentioned. I was going to start the binding on Saturday and was dreading it... now I am feeling so much better about it. Thanks!
Posted by: Haley | 09/12/2013 at 11:54 AM
Great tutorial, I havento try this in the near future!
Posted by: Veronika | 09/12/2013 at 12:45 PM
I love your quilts and tutorials (this quilt in particular is unbelievably gorgeous!) Maybe you could do a video one sometime? Thanks for sharing these. :-)
Posted by: April Williams | 09/12/2013 at 09:25 PM
Hey Rachel, it's good to see you on here again, even though I know how exhausting it must be. I hope you're doing well. I just finished my second ever quilt thanks to your tutorials. Thanks for making these things look easy, so I actually feel like I can tackle them:)
Posted by: Jessica Collins | 09/13/2013 at 06:46 AM
Thank you for sharing this, I have just started working on my first quilt (using Elise Blaha's tutorial) and I can definitely use all the tips and tricks I can find. Glad to see you also seem to be feeling better
Posted by: Annabelle macleod | 09/13/2013 at 02:43 PM
It doesn't look like you cut the binding on the bias. Does that make a difference? I've only used bias binding for binding a quilt, so I'm curious what kind of difference it makes. I do like your idea of folding it *almost* in half so that you can machine stitch it on one side and are sure to get the bottom. I will probably try that because I have several almost finished quilts only needing the binding to be completed/hand sewn and I just dread that part so much. If it makes the difference between a finished quilt and one sitting in a closet with the binding half-way done, then I say its better to machine stitch it on!
Posted by: Kara | 09/17/2013 at 07:35 AM
Oh my goodness. "Don't fold in half, fold almost in half". After all these months and months of sewing you've given me a quilting epiphany!!! Thank you. Oh please, oh please let this save me from the 'missed binding back' sections that plague me. (I am not doing any wild crazy, eaten-too-much-chocolate jumps right now but trust me, I feel like I could and should do... oh what the heck, I'm going to start jumping!!!)
Posted by: a touch of domesticity | 09/19/2013 at 03:14 AM