ONE NEW THING WEEK 12

Okay...let me preface this post by saying by no means am I a professional.  But I have made hundreds of quilts! I love reading quilting blogs and I love looking at tutorials. I have to say, though, that I'm often perplexed when I see how people finish off the ends of their quilt binding.  Perhaps they haven't come across this method, but I use it for every quilt I make.  I first saw this method in 'Happy Endings' by Mimi Dietrich.  It's really very easy - and foolproof in my opinion.  I'm not going to go over how to make binding, attach it, mitering corners, etc. This tutorial strictly shows you how to attach the ends of the quilt binding.  Here we go... 

Firstly, leave about a 10 inch tail at the beginning and end of your binding. You will need this extra length to manoeuvre the binding. After you have attached your binding remove any selvedge edges. 

 

 

Next, overlap the left side of the binding over the right side.  You want an overlap equal to the width of your binding less 1/4 inch.  In my case, my binding was 2 1/4 inches so I have an overlap of 2 inches.

Then cut the top piece of the binding.  Don't be scared!!! The next photo shows my 2 inch overlap...

 

 

You now have the top piece of the binding overlapping the bottom piece. Now...place the two ends right side together just as when attaching binding strips together.  Pin and draw a diagonal line from corner to corner like this...

 

 

Then...sew on the diagonal line.  Try not to "stretch" your binding strips when doing this as your binding may end up too long. This part can be a little tricky and awkward. You might feel you need a third hand! If you don't have enough extra binding to manoeuvre properly, just unpick a bit from the quilt!

 

 

Before trimming, open up the binding and lay it down on the quilt to make sure it's not twisted...

 

If it's not twisted, open it back up and trim with a 1/4 inch allowance. I just use scissors...!



 

 

Then, press the seam open (I just give it a good finger press)!

 

 

Now, lay the binding back down on the edge of the quilt and stitch it down...

 

 

 

It should fit perfectly! (Please ignore my wobbly stitching line - I was balancing a fairly large camera on my lap!)  And ta-da - a beautifully finished binding.  You will never be able to tell where the start and finish of your binding is!

 

 

Isn't my scissor fob cute!  It's from my friend, Caroline, who has a sweet little Etsy shop here where you can find scissor fobs and lots of other gorgeous items!

 

Anyway...I hope this was easy to follow!  Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or check out the book mentioned above!  There are tons of great finishing tips to be found!