Sewing 101, Tutorials, Uncategorized

Sewing Back-to-School: All About Binding

This post is part of the Sewing Back-to-School series, 30 days of helpful sewing articles by guest bloggers. Feel free to check out the original Sewing Back-to-School post for schedule and previous posts!
 
Jess from Sew Crafty Jess has completed so many quilts…I am always so jealous whenever I look at her completed projects! Stop by her blog and prepare to be amazed!
 

Hello!  My name is Jessica, or SewCraftyJess in blogger and flickr land.  First of all I’d like to thank Sara for having me over for a visit today, and for putting this wonderful series of sewing basics together!  I know I have certainly picked up a few tips and tricks along the way.  Today I will be sharing with you some binding basics, and some helpful hints I’ve picked up here and there!

When it comes to quilting, the binding step is the last stop before your quilt is complete.  When deciding how to bind your quilt, you first need to choose if you will be using a single fold binding, or a double fold binding.
Single fold bindings are great for small projects which will not be put through much wear and tear, or when you don’t want to add a lot of “bulk” to your binding, as the edges of your quilt will only be wrapped in a single layer of fabric.  Wall hanging quilts and “mug rugs” are a great quilting project to choose a single fold binding for.  Here is my favorite single fold binding tutorial I have come across yet from verykerryberry.
As for double fold binding, this is the more standard form of binding you will find on most quilts that are designed to be used and loved.  I typically use double fold binding and cut my strips at 2 1/2″ wide and then press in half longways so that the raw edges meet and the wrong sides are together.  This will give you two layers of protection to stand the wear and tear of a quilt that is loved.
Now that we have determined whether you are using single or double fold binding, its time to decide how to cut your binding.  There are three choices for this: cross grain, straight grain, and bias grain.  For the purposes of this post, I am only going to focus on the two that I typically use, cross grain and bias grain binding.
Continuous cross grain binding
Cross grain binding is just that, cut across (or perpendicular) to the fabric grain line (learn about fabric grain here).  To do this, you will cut your fabric strips perpendicular (at a 90 degree angle) to the selvedge edge of the fabric.  Cross grain binding is probably the easiest to make and makes the most of your fabric you have to use.  Cross grain bindings have very little stretch to them, so for this reason they cannot be used on quilts with curved edges.  Unless I am binding a quilt with curved edges, this is my binding of choice.
Unless the quilt you are binding is teeny tiny, you will need more than one strip of binding.  To determine how many strips of binding you will need, I measure all sides of my quilt, and add appx. 24 inches to the measurement.  This will insure you have plenty of length to go around.  If you are cutting your fabric from standard quilters cotton that measures approximately 44 inches from selvedge to selvedge, divide your calculated inches of binding you need by 44, to get the amount of strips you will need to cut.  Here is a picture mosaic of how I cut my fabric for cross grain binding, and how to attach your strips for one continuous piece of binding:
Scroll to the bottom of this post for additional links to cross grain binding tutorials.
Continuous bias cut binding
 
Bias cut binding is a favorite of many quilters for several reasons.  Because bias binding is cut, yes you guessed it on the bias (at a 45 degree angle to the selvedge edge), it has a lot of stretch to it.  This is necessary when binding a quilt with curved edges.  Also because of its “stretchiness” bias binding tends to be sturdier than cross grain binding and hold up better to lots of washing and wear and tear.  Bias cut binding is a little trickier to cut than cross grain binding, and does result in more fabric waste.  I follow the instructions in this youtube video by Expert Village when I cut my bias binding.

 

Here is a great article that compares and contrasts all three forms of bindings.Now that your binding is made, there are several methods for attaching your binding to your quilt.  I am going to leave this to the experts and refer to you a few of my absolute favorite tutorials which to a fabulous job showing the process.

My favorite tutorial that I use on just about every quilt I make is this binding tutorial from Rita of Red Pepper Quilts.   This tutorial explains how to completely attach your binding to your quilt by machine, with no hand sewing necessary.
Julie of Jaybird Quilts has a great binding series which shows how to attach both bias binding and cross grain binding.  Her perfect binding tutorial can be found here.
Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts also has a very good cross grain binding tutorial which shows how to finish your binding by hand sewing, with essentially no stitches visible.I hope this post helped to shed a little light on the basics of quilt bindings, I thoroughly enjoyed putting this together, thanks for visiting!

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8 thoughts on “Sewing Back-to-School: All About Binding

  1. Katy Cameron says:

    Perfect timing! Thank you so much for the advice, I was about to make up binding for my first couple of mug rugs tonight, and was wondering it there was a way round bias binding as it seemed to use up so much fabric!

  2. iluvmybugs says:

    Great tips on binding…I’m going to bookmark them so I can easily refer to them as I finish my projects. Thanks!!!

  3. Too funny–I just bought some of the polka dot print from JoAnns and was planning to use it for binding some day. Great minds think alike!

  4. Suzanne says:

    I was so happy to read your post about binding. You shared a lot of helpful information and great links too. Thank you!

  5. suemac says:

    Great tutorial. I am going to have to wait until I get home to look at all the links.

  6. Karen says:

    I had done binding (double) with 2 inches, but that very small single binding appealed to me for various projects, and I’d not seen it before… love to learn new things… thanks!

  7. Lynne says:

    I’m a follower of Jessica’s blog; she is amazing! Thanks for this tutorial.

  8. Poonam says:

    Thank you so much for sharing this and for providing links to all the tutorials you use. You are awesome!

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