Hand turned quilt binding

Hand-turned
Quilt Binding

Binding for Show

The tools you will need: rotary cutter, snips, fabric markers, a pin with a
large head, sewing needle, a sewing gauge to accurately mark the quilt
and the fabric, and a seam ripper (maybe not!). You will also need your
sewing machine and thread to both match your binding and contrast
with your quilt backing.

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Use the largest square ruler you can manage!
I love a 16” square ruler, but it’s too big for my hand. The 12-1/2” ruler is best
for me. Be sure to square up those corners – it’s impossible to put a perfect
miter on a not-square corner. This corner was cut initially with a straight ruler
and rotary cutter.


This is a much better corner.


To make binding:
Press binding fabric well, even up on one side. Cut as accurately as possible
into strips. I almost always make mine 2” wide as this makes for easier math.
Many people prefer to cut a little bit wider binding, 2-1/2” or so. This is fine
too. I’ll cut this one on the straight-of-grain but bias binding is treated
similarly.


Here, I will cut the binding 2 inches wide.


Trim selvedges from binding strips.
Selvedges don’t act like the rest of the fabric. Get rid of them!


Stitch binding strips together
Lay one binding strip horizontally to you right side up and cover the corner
with the second strip placed vertically on top, right side down. Pin and mark
the diagonal across the square from the top left-hand corner to the bottom
right-hand corner.


Stitch strips together
After stitching the first two strips together along the marked line, lay the free end of
the previously sewn strip (the one on top of the first, now stitched together)
horizontally right side toward you. Place another strip down vertically, mark as
before from upper left corner to bottom right one, and stitch these two together.
Repeat until all strips are sewn in one continuous strip.


All sewn together!
Time to snip them apart and trim the seams!


Trim off the edges of each join ¼” away from seam.


Press the binding seam open.


Press binding.
Press the binding in half, wrong sides together. Here the diagonal seam
is almost invisible. Press as accurately as you can and don’t stretch the
binding.


Roll binding.
The larger your quilt, the happier you will be that you didn’t skip this
step! This keeps your binding tidy and clean and easy to manage.


Hide the binding if you can …
I keep my binding roll under the extension table of my machine. It will feed
itself onto the quilt without rolling or twisting. Some people wrap their
binding around a toilet paper tube or a paper towel tube and place it on their
cone thread feeder. Do whatever works for you!


Begin sewing binding to quilt top
With a thread in your bobbin to contrast with your quilt back, find a point
somewhere in the middle of one side of the quilt and mark a spot to begin
sewing approximately 6 inches away from the end of the binding. I will begin
to sew where my thumb is in this picture.


MATH NOTES
• It’s important to fill your binding.
• As an example, for a 2” binding folded in
half, stitch ¼” away from the edge. For a 2-
1/2” binding folded in half, stitch 3/8” away
from the edge.
• For a perfect mitered corner, end sewing on
each side EXACTLY the WIDTH OF YOUR SEAM
away from the corner edge. Mark this
distance with a pin that you will definitely see.


Mark stopping point on corner
I will mark my corner ¼” from the edge, the same as my seam allowance.
Put in a long pin with a head that’s really easy to see.


Sew the binding to the quilt top
I will sew this in a 1/4” seam until I reach the pin. I do backtack a little
both at the beginning and end of each seam.


Almost there! I will stop on the pin and then sew several stitches back to
lock the stitch, as I will be pulling just a little on the binding to make my
corners.


First seam is sewn. Time to check the back.


Whoops! I wrinkled up my backing when I put in the marking pin. So I
will need the seam ripper, as I want this to be as perfect as possible.
Leaving in the pin, I will try again.


Not quite there!
Here I stopped about one stitch short of the ¼” mark. I’ll go back and put
in one more stitch, backtacking at the end. The extra thread won’t show.


I like this corner much better. Time to turn the corner and make the
miter!


First fold.
Fold the binding back away from the quilt, making a diagonal fold along
the binding itself. It should be on a straight line with the edge of the
quilt. Finger press the fold.


Second fold for a mitered corner
Then fold the binding back on top of itself and straight along the next side of
the quilt. Don’t let the fold hang over the top of the quilt or it will make the
corner too full and difficult to turn the binding to the back. Begin to stitch
right at the edge of the binding, backtacking to secure stitches.


Stop sewing before you reach the end!
Continue around the quilt making all four corners nice and square. Upon
reaching the last corner I will sew until I am about 6” again from the loose end
of the beginning of the binding. (The distance from the index finger to the
thumb will vary on everyone, but for me it’s about 6 inches.)


Mark the beginning of the binding
Put a pin right where the binding begins.


Lay the end of the binding over the beginning and measure from the pin
marking the beginning of the binding a distance EXACTLY THAT OF THE
WIDTH OF YOUR BINDING. Here, my binding was 2” wide, so I’m
measuring 2” past the beginning of the binding.


Mark end of binding
Pull the fabric firmly. Mark the end of the measure.


Here is my marked end of the binding.


You can see the overlap of the end of the binding over the beginning.


And here is the trimmed end of the binding laid over the beginning.


Time to finish the ends!
Open up the top binding and lay it right side up horizontally. Don’t twist
it, just open it up.


Open up the bottom binding and place it, right side down, on top of the
other end, matching the ends to make a square. Put a pin in it.


Mark the seam line from the top left of the square to the bottom right of
the square. Stitch but don’t trim the seam yet!


Check it first!
Before I trim it I’m going to check and be sure it’s just the right length. It
will be a lot easier to adjust if I have the extra still on it.


Trim the final binding seam
Trim the final seam to about ¼” width.


Finger press the seam open.


Stitch the remainder of the seam. Don’t worry if you get a little tuck, it’s
probably just on the top and won’t show once you turn the binding.


Ready to start turning the binding
Here’s what the back of my quilt now looks like with the binding
machine-stitched on all the way around. I’m going to use this contrasting
thread to mark a nice, (hopefully!) straight line.


Choose your thread and needles!
Always use a thread to match your binding so it doesn’t show. Here I am
using a 50-weight cotton thread and a self-threading needle.


Make a knot
I thread my needle and make a rather substantial knot, one that will hold
up to a gentle tug.


Put the needle through just anywhere, and pull the knot up snug to the
inside of the binding seam. Keep the needle just under the seam line on
the backing.


Take the first stitch through the binding, just 2-3 threads in.


Gently roll the binding over to the backing side and pull the thread gently
to secure. The thread should completely disappear under the binding.


Take next stitch into the backing, just a thread under the seam line (inside the
quilt, not the seam), and through the quilt about 1/8 “ or less to catch the
binding again, just a thread or two into the binding. Pull firmly but gently and
work down the binding toward the first corner.


Begin the corner.
Upon reaching the corner, take one stitch diagonally at the corner and
one stitch into the binding. Pull the binding gently but firmly into the
quilt.


See that little corner right at the end of the seam line?


Stitch the binding corner.
Take an extra stitch through the back of the quilt and then through the
corner of the binding. Pull it gently and firmly into the quilt, smoothing
and pressing with the fingers.


Stitch the corner closed
If you think it important to stitch the binding corners closed (and some
judges do notice this), now’s the perfect time to do that. Stitch to the
top corner and then back around the front of the corner.


I’ve stitched the back corner closed and now going to finish the front of
it.


Here’s the front corner stitched closed.


Back to the back of the quilt!
After closing the front seam of the binding, I’ll just come right back
through to the corner and begin sewing down the next side.


The back of the quilt
Here’s the back of that corner.


The finished corner
Here’s the front of the quilt! The corner is square, the binding is filled
out, the stitches are invisible. And if I can do this, YOU can do this!


To add a hanging sleeve to your quilt, a great video is on
the American Quilt Society YouTube channel. It covers the
official sizes and making the extra space so that the quilt
hangs nicely.

I hope this is helpful – please feel free to send me any
suggestions or comments! And let me know if there’s
something else I can show you how I do! - Marybeth


Hand turned quilt binding

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