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Binding the Quilt

So let's, talk about binding um, this was the hardest thing for me to learn about quote making was to get my binding right every time I would do it. I would say the next time it will be perfect because it was so close, but not quite, but I now realize it's, not hard it's just going to show you the tricks that work for me, and maybe they'll work for you too, to figure out the type of binding I do I do straight of grain binding. Some people do buy a finding, and bias would be the type of binding that you would do if you had rounded edges so that you have some give in your binding. But for the type of quote that we're making today, I would do a straight grained binding it saves fabric and it's just a little bit more straightforward. I actually have in the bonus are in the materials that come with the class. There is a link, tio, a video that I have that shows you how I saw on my binding if you need another visual of how to do that because it can be a little bit tricky. So what you're goin...

g to do to figure out how much finding you need for your quilt is you're going to measure all horse sides, add them together and then you're going to add ten inches to give yourself plenty for the corners and from joining the edges. So and also when it comes to fabric for binding, I use new fabric I don't use, uh, repurposed fabric and the on ly reason I do that it's just a personal preference because I don't want a piece a lot of little pieces of fabric together to make binding, I would rather just cut, so I just decided color it would be and like, I chose this fabric for this quilt, and I just cut it accordingly, and that way you're only piecing a few pieces versus a lot of little pieces, so I'm going to show you how I cut my fabric strips for my binding, I'm gonna use the three inch by eighteen inch ruler, and I'm going to line up the folded edge again. This is folded in half if this is a forty four inch wide fabric and I'm gonna line the folded edge up with a line on my cutting that so I could get myself a straight edge. And then I'm gonna line a line on the cutting matt up with my ruler, trying not to cut away too much of the fabric, and I get myself a straight edge, so I cut my I used a single fold, two and a half inch wide binding the reason I do that is because when you have a quilt that is used a lot, the edges are the most vulnerable they get used, rubbed up against things when you have a quote folded, those air, always sticking out and it's better if you've got two layers there, it's better that's another reason why people, some people prefer bias finding because of the way that this's the textile, niki, part of me again, because of the way the fibers are laying, you are spreading the wear and terror and on a wider area of threads that we're not going to do that, because the binding that I use, I think, holds up really well, it is. So it's doubled over, so you've got two layers and essentially do you all know what the binding is? I didn't really explain what that is, but you're essentially in closing the edges of these, you're framing your quilt, if you will, and so we're going to give it a nice, strong binding by doing it this way, so I'm going to cut now that I have my nice three ej, I'm going to cut two and a half inch strips, and I would have already figured out ok, so I need so many inches of fabric based on measurement of my quote, plus ten inches. And there's also a little formula in the download um um well materials that I don't have like just here at the ready that you can pet that you can write and you're amounts and your measurements and figure out how much you need sise do you need to be when you're saying like would you re measure it down to the one eighth of an inch or uh it would make yourself crazy it's just not necessary with the binding because you're going over by ten inches anyway you are yeah and you definitely want to go over you definitely there's really there's really no way tio teo figure out how to deal with out without going over it doesn't have to be exactly ten inches you could make it you know eight inches or twelve inches and then you could use the rest you can cut it off and you can tie christmas packages with it when you need a bow or trimming cut one more these and then and show you how way attached together so when I attacked so now we've got these four stripped that need to somehow be attached together into one long strip and to do that you're gonna want if you're using a printed fabric of course you're going to always join the wrong there I'm sorry the right sides together but in this case we don't really have a right or wrong side so that's makes it will be easier so what we're going to do sometimes uncommercial fabric you see the salvage edge you could cut that off that the way that I joined it disappears in the um the same anyway so it's not a big deal so the way that you're going to do this is just cross the's at their edge we put this on here so that you can see we're going to cross him like that they're starting over hanging a little bit on the two edges and then if you want tio you don't have to but if you want tio actually mark where you're going to so so what you need to have happen is you need to sew a scene or a stitch line from corner to corner like this because you're gonna want it to look like that can you guys see that? Yeah when you so it's something to show you how to do that and you can pin this teo I'm not pending it but you certainly could yes, I know for aesthetics or is that for a functional reason it actually distributes the same allowance so if I were to do it straight which some people do you just have a whole little seem right there on the edge whereas with this one I'll show you we'll cut the excess fabric off the edge back to report urban inch it's distributing it's distributing that seem can you see that like across versus if it were just like that it would poke out well but she could do it either way so I've trimmed off the excess fabric and I also also to distribute bulk I press this open to but we're going to do that at the end join another one here so you can see when I turned that the salvage is just come off so I don't need really to worry about that saul draw another line for you guys on again I speak peace these install show you how I do that with the last one I don't take that one off I lay the other edge over and it took me a long time to do this it's like I would take these off and I would think I was all like hot shot and I would realize that I had send the wrong side so just so that you know it can't be done but you don't have to do it that way so that I'd just turn them all separate them I trimmed the same allowances and then I take it over to the ironing board and iron it so what I do to create the double fold is as I'm ironing it I just folded in half can't see that I just folded in half press it I'll let the two cut edges meat and I just continue doing that all the way down I'm iron heat up yes if you use when you're pressing or do you like to use a dry iron I only use steam if it already has water in it because I'm too like you get the water but you know I don't sometimes I don't use steam when I'm using a lot of different kinds of fabrics and the same quell because it can torque and turn you know it can miss shape some um and then other times I dio if it's if I know that the fabrics were going to do ok then I might use it what about you do you steam ideo yeah because I'm primarily just using quilting cotton yeah yeah so I know that it can handle it and I found that with the dryer and I feel like I can't get my blocks toe light as I feel like it's just not enough huh well I can understand if you're using different yeah ailes yeah so I just keep this wrangled by just folding in a little tube so now I'm getting to the first seem that I joined and I would just press the seem open as I said just sort of distribute the bulk and then I would just keep on going so I don't really satisfying the having a little role of binding already love it different links you can okay you don't have to be oh I don't know I don't know they I think they are pre two three yards at a time so andi, I've actually never used those on a quote what I was going to try using which you can buy that pre made blanket edging the satiny stuff I thought that might be kind of fun to do on a quilt so that be worth a try? I do like making binding myself just because you can pick whatever fabric you want and once you get the idea it's pretty straightforward as to what color you choose for your binding would you always go darker? Would you always go lighter? Would you pick the most predominant color and your quilt? Some people like to it depends on whether you want the binding to disappear or to stand out and if you make maybe if you make binding really well then you wanted to stand out. If you don't think it's going to be very good, then you might want to blend in on mine like in the wool quilt I used a contrast binding because I like to see it all framed up. I just think it's so I ideas a lot of contrast binding, but you could use whatever you felt and you can even peace binding the way that I just paste it with different fabrics so you could kind of make it scrappy too, which is fun you're the designer that's year europe ear piece all right so I've got this all so did that make sense what I just did here I folded the two right edges together so now we're gonna attach it teo the quilt and there's many ways to do this you can machine so the entire binding on which I've never been able to d'oh you can hand stitch the entire binding on but what I like to do is machine stitch it on the front and then hand stitch it to the back is that the way mr pugh guys do it I just find that that's the prettiest way and so that's the way I'm going to show you guys how to do it so regardless of what size your quilt is, you're going to start it the same way you're going to start it midway down aside you're not going to start it in a corner um ever and you're gonna take your binding with the two raw edges lined up with the raw edge of the quilt and you're gonna leave this you know a certain amount here unstitched and you can pin this um you're going to tend to uh I want to shift a little bit so you might want to just pin it just to keep it in place to get you to the sewing machine and to mark where you start but what you're going to do is start stitching there and essentially we're going to stitch down stitch over, stitch up the side stitch over here and we're going to stitch down and essentially stop to give ourselves enough room tio do this superfund binding edge joined trick that I have planned for you so I'm going to show you how to do this I used a some people use something called a walking foot to attach their binding and I do use that on occasion but you can also for the quilt that we're making today you can also use your regular patchwork foot you still want to keep it a quarter inch away and you want to keep your scene I'm sorry you're stitch line consistent as you can with the edge there so that it lays nice and smooth on the front so let's do that so this is the one time I would do a couple back stitches at the beginning and end of the binding so I'm just keeping everything in line like I said you're you can pin this if it makes you feel more confident you're gonna want to make sure all the layers were staying smooth and then when I do when I get you corner the corners or what used to really kill may I didn't do them well so here's what I dio you stitch towards the corner and you stop round about a quarter inch from the edge and then what I do is with my needle down I lift up my presser foot I turn this asymmetrically so that I'm going diagonally off the edge and I literally stitch off the edge can you see what I just did okay said then you're going to start that next seem or the next side just right from the edge actually no you're not sorry you're gonna have to fold the binding up to get positioned so the way that I do this is I fold this up like that so that my fabric is now going this way and then leaving that fold in there I'm going to turn it back down towards this side and again if it makes you feel better to pin that you should pin it so what you want is a little teeny tiny might erred corner and so what you want when you're when you're stitching is you're going to want this edge here can you see that I'll do that three more times so you guys tio all right so then you're just going to start at the edge of the fabric get into the corner again on what you don't want to have happen is actually happening right now you don't want where you join your binding to be landing at the corner but we can work with them so I'm gonna stitch up to the edge and just stop at a quarter inch away raised my presser fit with the needle still down oh turn it asymmetrically and just go off the edge, no back stitch and they were going to do the same thing that we did the last time and we're going toe so we fold it up like this, make a little diagonal here and then hold it back down on itself so that you've got that little triangular flap, a fabric and these little tales that happened he just turn this off before you stitch it down on the other side. Hurry, hurry coto corner three d the same thing rage presser foot turn it on a diagonal and stitch off the edge. Does this kind of make sense everybody? So then we will do the same thing will fold this up and I will full the fabric back down, get it in position for that next edge. We'll do this one, hold it up and then fold it down and I know I'm not going to use all this trip, so this is the fourth edge, so I'm gonna start switching from the edge just like before, just keeping in mind where I want to stop give myself a good six or eight inches of space to finish off the binding stop right there backstage on, I'll show you what I have, so I have stopped there on that edge, I stopped there on that edge so you have got all the police finding that I need tio somehow figure out pretty this is the part I always used to mess up until I figured out that trick and so hopefully you guys move this out of the way screen so I don't really know why this works because I don't like math but it really works so I'm actually turn it this way but I don't mess it up so what you're going to d'oh is cross your two edges over you two months own edges and with your ruler you're going to make sure you can see the back you're going to stick it up just a little bit so that you can just see where it is and you're gonna measure the same with as the width of the binding two and a half inches and mark on the top when or just eyeball it and cut it off so now you're left with a two and a half inch overlap so next what you d'oh and the part is really really it takes a while to figure it out but it's not hard when she get it once it's like knitting what's it kind of clicks in your head just makes total sense so I'm going to open these up and then I'm in a place right sides together like this you have to sort of bunch up the quilt to be able to have enough to play with so this is almost like we were sewing together the binding strips so you're putting this cross like that the edges are crossed right sides together and I'm gonna pin this just because I want to keep it even and then I take a pencil or a light pen mark and I'm going to draw a diagonal line from one diagonal edge to the opposite diagonal edge where the fabric underneath now hold that up and show you guys so it looks like that can you guys see that? Ok, so then, like I said, you can't a bunch up the quilt to get it over here, but we're going to stitch on that line, get street no, but just one little part so way stitched on that line across and then we're going to trim off the scene allowance and I don't even take this to the iron I just finger press it, I'll show you how to do that so you open it up, I'm the coke sees seem allowances open and just with my finger just press these down, you're gonna fold it back and you're going to hold your breath and it will be joined and then you're just going to continue to stitch and I'll show you how to do that don't need to back stitch this particular time you competitive if you want this's not super perfect you have a little if you get a little plead on this side it's okay, you won't see it when you but this is where it's really helpful if you're very few just take the time to be pretty precise it's really helpful so there you're binding is completely attached so what I do here, we just stick it to the back. What I do here is just lightly run and iron just to kind of coax these edges up and away from the front of the quilt and then what's gonna happen is you're going to full this over the edge in hand, stitch it to the back you're going to put in a movie but no subtitles you can't do try to do some tile with the word, but you are going tol string here you're going to be working from the back of the quilt and it's best to match your thread, tio the binding and not the quote back so in this case I would use a blue and not a green and you're just going to take little tiny him stitches all the way across that's all you d'oh now I will show you a couple of things people like to hold their quilts are there binding on their quotes in places sometimes people we'll put thes clips which he's looked like moretz I think, um maybe if they call them cult in clips, they get to church more? I don't know so some people will do that, and when you get teo, it just helps keep everything kind of you don't want tio pull your stitches too much, and it just keeps this fabric from pulling on that, um, on where you because you're coming from here and you're going across the kind that I like to use are these little clips two guys she's quoting clips, do you? Um so I like to use these guys and, um, these air made for holding binding in place, and I only have ten of them and I stitch with them, and then I knew the ten and because you need to buy enough to do the whole thing and these air easy for me to see too, so I like dropping on the floor and then when you get to these corners because we did that, nice little so off the side, we should have some really nice miter looking folds here and you're going tio just continue your him stitches, you're going to take a few him stitches in that do you know what I mean by him? Are blind stitch or something like that? Just invisible stitch going to take a couple in there and that's really it it's a sewing on hand sewing and binding is my favorite part of making a quilt because you're kind of just back with everybody you're not tied to your sewing machine anymore and you can do it while you're watching something on tv and that's it yeah quick question about that is there a particular place that you would start like in the middle or on the corners? I would start I wouldn't started a corner that's the only rule I think you would start sometimes what I do is I'll start like on this one, I would start like right here so that I do my corner, I do a corner right away because I hate the corners that I've only got more yeah, yeah, I might start right there because if we start down here then you're going to be you know, you're going to get your very involved there's a quarter, but yeah, there's no real rules about that. Anybody else have any questions about binding fred you like thi's when your hand so I think that's a good question I used well, I matched the two the binding but the color to the binding, but I like to use a thin thread that's really strong, and so I use a brand that I put in the resource is called or phil it's actually made for quilting and it's thin but very strong and that's. What I have here comes on big spools, what last forever, but you could use any. The whole idea of matching the thread color to the binding is that you don't want to see it. So there's, some all purpose threads that seem a little thicker than others at that. The craft store, the sewing story. Just get one that you think would be the center kind, and I would also I would probably use if you're doing a mainly cotton quilt. I probably used mainly cotton thread. Um, where in terre unbinding. Sometimes, if you use a polyester thread over time, that polyester might be stronger than your cotton fibers, and so it might actually slice into them over time. So if he used, like, for like, they're goingto most likely, where? The same.