11 easy steps to beautiful binding

Welcome to Day Five of this week’s project!

Yesterday was all about using Odif 505 Temporary Quilt Basting Adhesive Fabric Spray to baste the quilt. Just remember, when you use Odif 505 to baste quilts of any size, a little goes a long way.

One important tool I haven’t talked about this week is an iron. I cannot stress enough the importance of a good iron. The one I use is the Oliso Pro Plus TG1600 Smart Iron. I like the weight, the feel of the handle, and the performance. The one sweet function this iron has that everyone will learn to love is its legs. The moment the handle is released, three small legs push the iron off the ironing surface. When the handle is touched again the legs retrack into the iron and it’s ready to use again. The retracting legs are the reason to use the Oliso Pro, as it reduces the strain on the wrist from always placing the iron on its heel when not in use.

I’ll add my binding entirely by machine. The width of the fabric strips I’m using are 2⅛”. The four sides of the wall hanging equal 97”. To get the number of fabric strips I need for the binding, I divide 97″ by the standard fabric width of 42″ – so 97 ÷ 42 = 2.3 strips. I round up and cut three strips at 2⅛” wide, and I’ll cut off the excess at the end.

The strips need to be sewn together lengthwise end-to-end, right sides together. I prefer to sew my strips together with a 45^o seam. With a 45^o diagonal seam, the bulk of the seam is spread over 2⅛”.

To make a 45^o diagonal seam, draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of both ends of each strip.

Note: I used a blue pen for the purpose of taking the photos. Normally I’d use a pencil.

Place the strip ends right sides together at a 90^o angle and sew along the diagonal line. Cut the excess fabric away, leaving a ¼” seam allowance.

Repeat this step until all three strips are sewn together into one long strip. Press all seams open, then fold the binding strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together, and press the full length.

When I sew my binding entirely by machine, I start by sewing the binding onto the back first, following these 11 steps:

TIP Read all the steps before you start!

1. Line the raw edge of your binding up with a raw edge of the quilt. Start sewing a ¼” seam approximately 5″ from the end of your strip.

2. Stop sewing ¼” from the quilt edge (corner).

3. Fold the binding away from the quilt.

4. Fold the binding down along the next side of the quilt and sew along the edge with a ¼”

5. Repeat these steps until all four corners of the quilt are bound. Stop sewing about 8″ to 12″ away from where the first seam was started.

6. Pin down the section of the strip left unsewn in the first step. Find the diagonal line by opening the binding strip; place a pin where the diagonal line meets the edge of the quilt fabric.

7. Pin the other end of the strip to the quilt. Overlap with the end of the strip with the 45^o diagonal line.

8. Trim the top strip ¼” to the left of the 45^o

9. Sew both binding ends together on the 45^o diagonal line.

10. Trim the seam allowance to ¼” and finger press the seam open. Align the edge of the binding with the edge of the quilt; sew it in place.

11. Fold the binding to the front of the quilt. Using Heirloom QUALITY Clever Clips Small – 60 Piece, clip the binding in place. Sew along the edge of the binding.

Sewing along the edge of the 2⅛” strips pretty much guarantees the seam will be parallel to, and not on, the binding.

The Christmas wall hanging is now complete.

It was a fun week playing with all the Odif products. Odif 808 Spray and Fix Temporary Adhesive for Paper Patterns, Odif 606 Spray and Fix No-sew Fusible Adhesive Web, Odif 505 Temporary Quilt Basting Adhesive Fabric Spray, Odif 404 Spray and Fix Permanent Repositionable Adhesive for Craft Material,

Odif DK5 Adhesive Cleaner, and Odif DK5 Adhesive Cleaner made easy work of the Christmas wall hanging I made, and I would never complete a project without the help of my Oliso Pro Plus TG1600 Smart Iron and Heirloom QUALITY Clever Clips!

I recommend you try out these products yourself – they’re so easy to use!

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: How to use Odif 505 to make quilt basting quick and easy