BINDING YOUR QUILT: A TUTORIAL

February 25, 2020

Binding quilts can be such a pain! It is one of my least favorite steps in the quilt making process. As a beginner quilter, I found it quite daunting. This is the way I bind my quilts, and I have found it to be the easiest. I really enjoy the look of the diagonal seams, and they lay quite nicely during the process.

1) With right sides together, place binding strip on the end of a horizontal border strip, each extending 1/8in. beyond the other as shown. Draw a diagonal line across, and sew on this line. Trim and press seams open. Repeat this step on the remaining strips. Press entire length in half, wrong sides together, forming 1 1/4in. wide strip.

*** My mom taught me this trick to keep your binding from getting tangled up! Just wrap it lengthwise around your ruler.

2) Place a pin in the center of the top edge of the quilt. Align the raw edges of the quilt (back side) and the binding 4 in. to the left of the pin. Begin sewing 6 in. to the right of the pin, leaving a 10 in. tail of loose binding. Sew to 1/4in. from the edge of the quilt and back stitch. Clip threads and remove quilt from machine.

3) Fold the binding up an away from the quilt at the corner as shown. Now fold the binding back down, with the new fold even with the top of the quilt and the raw edges even with the sides. Sew from the top down to 1/4in. from the next corner. Repeat process on the next three corners. After finishing the last corner, sew to within 6in. in front of the pin. Open the binding.

4) Lay each strip of the binding along the quilt edge and draw a mark at the pin. Trim the loose tails 1 1/4 in. beyond the mark. 

5) Fold the left tail up; open the binding with the right side up. Fold the right tail up; open binding with the wrong side up. With right sides together, place binding strip on the end of a horizontal border strip, each extending 1/8in. beyond the other as shown in the first step. Draw a diagonal line across, and sew on this line. CHECK THE FIT. Trim. Press seam open. Fold the binding in half again, lengthwise. Sew this section of the binding onto the quilt. 

6) Press the mitered corners flat to set a nice crease. fold binding over the raw edge to the front of the quilt, beyond the stitching line. Pin in place and top stitch the binding in place folding the mitered corners in place. 

*It is also possible to sew the binding onto the front of the quilt and hand sew the binding to the back of the quilt. 

This is a snuggie baby blanket made from extra blocks from my Lincoln Logs pattern coming soon!