I have been involved in a local quilt guild—the New Hampshire Modern Quilt Guild—for several years now. (I’m a resident of Massachusetts, but the group’s weeknight meetings are a short drive for me.) At times I’ve served on the board, as the events coordinator or president. Even as a rank-and-file member, though, I like to contribute on occasion and head up a make-and-take craft or lead a short tutorial.
Years ago, I gave a little spiel on how I machine-bind my quilts. In my mind, I was simply presenting what I had been doing for years. For some of my guildmates, however, this technique was novel—some of them had always finished their bindings by hand! I kind of love that about quilting—how there are multiple ways to accomplish the same thing, and everyone has a technique that works best for her.
So it’s in that spirit that I thought we could have a little conversation about bindings and have included some of my favorite past bindings here in this post.
I can summarize my binding philosophy as follows:
* I love a fully machine-finished binding. My wrists thank me for it, especially for larger projects.
* If I am going to take the time to hand-finish a binding, I use a chunky visible stitch because I want credit for my handwork!
* I cut width-of-fabric strips, not bias strips, because I can cut them fast and they require less yardage than bias strips. I know that bias strips, by nature, wear better, but I’ve never had an issue with my WOF strips.
* My secret for neat corners on machine-finished bindings is a little Elmer’s glue. Just use a little bit and set with heat before sewing.
For more details, check out the tutorials below. Then share your own binding dos and don’ts in the comments!
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