Do You Know
How to Bind
a Quilt?
Our applique shapes are all secured and look awesome with the Dazzle threads couched along the
edge. I’ve never used this technique before but now
that I see how easy and effective it is, I think I’ll be
using it again in the near future!! So now we just need
to finish the table runner off with some nice binding.
Trimming your table runner
With the arrangement of leaves that I used, I decided to
trim my table runner to 11" x 25" but you may decide that
yours should be either bigger or smaller – just do what
you think looks best. Use your rotary cutter, mat and ruler to
trim and square it up.
Making our binding
If you’re making your table runner the same size as mine
and using a fat quarter of fabric for your binding, then cut
four strips that are 2½" wide along the longest side of the fat
quarter. If you’re using ya rdage then cut 2 strips 2½" x WOF.
Sew these strips together using a mitred join. See the
photo below if you aren’t sure how to do this.Trim off the
excess fabric from the back and then iron the seams open.
Trimming the excess backing and batting
Sewing on the binding
Press the long binding strip in half lengthwise with wrong
sides together. Sew binding to the front of the table
runner, aligning the raw edges of the binding with the raw
edges of the cover. Fold the binding to the back of the
table runner and pin in place.
Why not try out a new stitch?
If you like to hand sew your bindings to the back of your
quilts, then get out your needle and thread and put a good
movie on the TV. But if you are in a hurry or you don’t like
to do hand work, then I’m going to show you how to use a
decorative stitch to finish sewing your binding.
I bet your sewing machine has lots of stitches that you’ve
never used before – well here’s your chance! Since the
table runner has leaves on it, I decided to use the decorative leaf stitch on my machine. By using a wide decorative
stitch you are sure that you catch the back of the binding
all of the way around. When you’re sewing on the binding,
center your stitching in the ditch between the cover front
and the front of the binding so that some of the stitching
is done on the quilt top and some is done on the binding.
For more decorative stitching ideas visit QUILTsocial.com.
See the finished project. The leaf stitch finished off the
binding perfectly but took FOREVER to sew. The more
complex the design, the longer it will take the machine to
stitch it – so glad I wasn’t binding a bed quilt!!
Cutting the binding strips
40
Photos by Christine Baker
Q
UILTsocial
.com
●
winter 2014/2015