Thanks! That’s how I bind my quilts, too. I sew the binding first to the back, fold it to the front, and then top stitch along the binding fold using an edge foot. Looks neat from both sides.
Thanks so much for sharing that tip. I love that there are so many different ways to achieve the same thing. Thanks so much for letting me know about that other method. 😘😘😘
The only way I think that you could minimalize that bump is to do the normal mitered joint then press that seam open before sewing it to the quilt. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much! I find sewing the ends together on smaller projects to be very difficult and I have been doing this for over 30 years. I am glad to hear that this method can help you too.
After 35 years of quilting, I still find sewing the ends of the binding together on smaller projects to be challenging. This makes the small quilts so much easier. I am happy to hear that you like it.
I've not had much luck with glue sticks, but I use Elmers and precision tipped glue bottles from Amazon. I glue baste everything--my binding, my blocks etc.
When using Elmer's, do you wash the project when you are done? I have heard that some of the Elmer's white glue is not "Acid Free" or "Archival". I would worry about yellowing over time if left in the project.
I like this idea. I do my corners similar to you, except, when I get to that quarter inch mark, I turn my corner to a 45 degree angle and sew off toward the corner. I feel it makes that miter more accurate.
You are right! The quilt behind me is a disappearing 4-Patch made in the Civil War Potholder style. Half of the blocks are made with light purple, dark purple, and yellow scraps and the other half of the blocks are made with light green, dark green, and pink scraps. And yes, I did mix up the pieces of the 4-patches after I cut them. But I did keep the pink and greens together and the purple and yellows together. Thanks for noticing.
I think that this is a good way to get one over the hump of joining binding. However, beginning quilters should work toward the professional finish. Tools I recommend to ease fabric handling (and to get over the directional issues) are (1) a Folded Corner clipper (FCC) to pre miter the binding joins (to include the last one) and (2)a hot hemmer ruler to (a) press perfectly the 45 and the fold back and (a) to measure the overlap on the final join. (I also glue baste my joins on the straight sides so that I can press open) and glue baste my binding to the back and roll to the front for machine stitching using an edge stitch foot. To make final joining foolproof (andnot use cheater methods): measure the overlap (cut of one end overlapping the other) the width of your binding - a fat 1/8" (to prevent a flaccid join). Use the FCC to pre miter both ends (they need to be facing the same direction with topside up … for directionally challenged like me, I had to make these distinctions…(if quilt is toward you and binding away, open the right binding and make a u-turn right and cut. The left binding is already facing right). Join the miter, and it will be perfect EVERY time. (of course practice first).
WOW! Thanks so very much for all this fantastic information. I wasn't familiar with those tools before now and I just looked them up. Very cool! Thanks for being here, and sharing this with us.
I call it cheater for two things. The main thing is tucking the end of the binding into the beginning. I was always taught that you MUST sew the ends of the binding, but on small projects it is just too much work. So when I started using this method, I really felt like I was cheating. Unless someone looks very closely they won't know that you did this. Sewing from the top is a little like cheating, but didn't feel quite so strange to me because the binding was still being sewn down. It is also obvious to anyone looking at the back of the quilt that you used this method. It doesn't look as good as hand sewing the binding, but it is sooooooo much quicker.
