Sewing a Binding on a Quilt
Learn to sew a double fold binding for your quilt.
These are instructions for after you sew on the hanging sleeve.
There are many ways to sew on a binding for a quilt.
This is for straight edge quilts. I use a double fold binding with fabric cut on
the straight of the grain.
I only use biased binding for quilts that have curved edges.
Sewing supplies
Sewing Machine - walking foot. Rotary mat, cutter and ruler
Pencil or chalk marker, sewing supplies.
Fabric for binding and thread to match
INSTRUCTIONS - Read through the instructions first before you start.
Straight of the grain binding
1. Trim the quilt making sure the corners are square. Often times I use a large acrylic square to check my corners and edges. Sew a small zigzag stitch around the outside of quilt being careful not to stretch the corners. Attach your hanging sleeve and sew it on. I find it easier to already have the hanging sleeve completely finished before I do the binding. |
2. I cut my binding in long strips 2 1/2 inches wide. Often times I will rip the fabric if it isn't a low thread count and iron the strips flat. You can also use your rotary cutter. Cut enough strips to go around the entire quilt with at least 10-18 inches to spare. |
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3. Place end of two strips perpendicular to each other and draw a diagonal line as shown in the picture.
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4. Stitch along the drawn line and trim as shown in the picture. Join all the strips together to create a long piece of binding. Double check to make sure the binding will go around the outside of the quilt, with extra binding to spare. |
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5. Press open the seams as shown in the picture. This will make the binding lie flatter after attached. Fold the binding strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Iron to create the double fold. I iron the bind on both sides to make it very flat. Use a dry iron and while ironing the strip don't do a back and forth motion. Instead press with the iron not moving. |
| 6. Align the binding on the right side of the quilt about 3/4 of the way down one side. I pin the starting spot and wrap the binding around the outside checking to make sure that none of the seams I used to attach the strips is on a corner.Sometimes I need to adjust my starting place. You do not want any of the joined seams on a corner or else the corner will not lay flat. |
7. Use your walking foot to sew on the binding with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Leave some binding free (6") on the end. Sew to the corner stopping 1/4 inch from end. Backstitch, take out needle and trim threads. |
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8. Place the quilt on a flat surface. To form the mitered corner, fold the binding creating a 45 degree fold (picture). |
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Fold it along the new edge with the binding folded along the top edge and pin. Study the two pictures. Begin stitching again 1/4 inch from the edge along the new side. |
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9. When you have sewn on all the binding stop about 6 inches from the end. Butt the two ends together until all the slack is taken up. Draw a sewing line on the inside of one of the strips and attach the two strips. Trim and using the tip of your iron open up the seam. Refold binding and finish attaching the binding. |
