binding

*****For this tutorial you will need to have a computerized sewing machine that is capable of doing a monogram. (Added Note: my machine is not an embroidery machine, it is a fancy quilting machine – Janome Horizon 7700)*****

I would like to start off by giving the person who taught me this method full credit, my mom, Michele Ward. She has been binding her quilts like this for as long as I can remember (she has had her current sewing machine for 20 years and it was state of the art when she bought it). Now that I have done a quilt label with this method, I am now out of excuses for not labeling my quilts and you will be too!

So to start off you will need to make your binding, I do not do a bias binding, I do a straight binding. 2.5″ strips sewn together, then folded in half and pressed.

Next you will need to program your monogram. As each machine is different I highly suggest consulting your owner’s manual if it is the first time using this feature on your machine. My manual failed to mention the max character limit and I had to do my label in two different sets.

You are ready to sew your monogram, I would also suggest that you practice this on a scrap piece of fabric cut to 2.5 inches and folded as you would fold your binding strips. This will tell you exactly where to align your fabric. My fabric is placed with the fold up against the right hand side of the foot. (see picture below)

Once your binding is monogrammed you are ready to attach the binding to the quilt.

Number one hint when attaching the binding to the quilt is to make sure that the binding is facing down toward the quilt when you attach it and also make sure that you will not hit a corner when attaching it because that will ruin the label and make it impossible to read. This just takes some simple looking ahead.

Once your binding is attached to the front of your quilt, you can now choose to hand sew it down or you can machine stitch it down (this is my preferred method because of my RA – handwork is not my friend).

Here is another close up of the stitching. This binding should last the lifetime of the quilt and the nice thing is that you do not need to worry about it washing out.

My mom uses this method on all of her quilts. For baby quilts she records the baby’s name, birth date and weight. For other quilts she says who made it, who it was made for and usually a special message.

I hope you find this helpful, especially everyone who is like me and never finds the time to label. If it is part of our binding routine perhaps it will become more routine!

In December I posted a quickie basting tutorial and I asked if anyone would like me to do a binding tutorial, several people asked and it is time for me to deliver!

This is a picture heavy tutorial – my apologies!

The steps that I am going to detail in this tutorial will work for virtually any machine quilt binding that you will do.

For the Valentine Pinwheel Table Runner you will need three strips measuring 2.5” x WOF (width of fabric) – I am using solid fabric for my border. If you are using a patterned fabric make sure you sew your strips right sides together.

Placing fabric corner to corner, right sides together, take a ruler and draw a line with an air or water soluble pen/pencil from corner to corner.

Pin in place and sew along the line you drew.

Place your ruler with the ¼” mark on stitched line – trim triangle off

Press your fabrics open and repeat until all your strips are sewn together

Fold your strip in half and press along the entire strip.

Note Before: when you are going to do the entire binding on the machine – sew your binding to the back first. If you plan on hand sewing your binding down – sew your binding to the front first!

Place the raw side of the strips to the quilt edge. I like to start in the center of the quilt and have an excess of 8-12 inches of strip when you start sewing.

Sew the strip to the quilt with a ¼” seam. Stop sewing when you are ¼” from the corner.  (I like to measure with a tape measure and place a pin so I know where to stop).

When you reach the corner, you will want to fold the fabric back (refer to picture)

The fold your fabric back down  – align it with the next edge you will be sewing on (you are creating your mitered corners)

Repeat the last two steps at each corner. Stop sewing when you are 8” from where you started.

Fold the strips in towards each other – meeting in the middle, fold the strips back on top of themselves.

Fold the strips down, making a point

Using a quilting ruler – place it on the edge of the quilt and cut off the excess fabric from the binding strips.

Place the strips right sides together, draw a line corner to corner, sew on the line and trim ¼” from stitching and press open

Finish sewing down your binding

Fold your binding over to the front, at this point you can pin or not pin (I start out pinning usually and then end up just folding the fabric over with my fingers).  Pick a decorative stitch or straight stitch. NOTE:  Make sure when you fold your fabric over that you are covering the stitching from when you attached the binding to the back!

I like to pin my corners down until I am ready to sew them (literally right until the needle is about to hit the pin). I also leave my needle down, lift my foot and turn at the corner rather than starting and stopping at each corner.

Congratulations you have just machine sewn your binding!

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