2 quilt bindings that add pizzazz: getting creative with the Epic 980Q

Today’s the last day of this tutorial for applying the binding to a quilt by machine and exploring the very handy features of the Husqvarna Viking Epic 980Q. I hope you had fun following along, I hope you got inspired and I hope you learned something.

I must say that I enjoy writing the posts and I never fail to learn something myself. Today, I’ll show you two different ideas for bindings. It’s my first time to make each of these styles of binding. I hope you like them.

When I was checking out something on the interactive screen this morning, I saw that I had “messages” in mySewnet. Hmm – what could that be? Remember: the Epic 980Q has internet capabilities. When I opened up the messages, there were some sewing projects, some tips about using various stitches and other information.

Seriously? That’s so cool. The sewing projects include complete instructions right on the screen. I love that because there are so many different possibilities that you can use the stitches for, that you forget. Having a small project arrive in your sewing machine inbox is great. I could assemble the supplies and start the project. I don’t need to print it out.

You can also access mySewnet from your computer. I just opened up an account. OH – that opens up a whole other world of getting ideas, information, tips, hints, etc. Looks like I’m going to be busy!

Remember a couple of days ago when we were cutting bias strips? I had cut some bias strips that were not continuous. I’m going to make a piped binding with those strips. To get started, the strips were cut at 1¼” wide and joined together.

I also need a thin cording that you can find in the drapery supplies section. You need enough cording to go around the entire edge of your project. I would start on a small project or make a practice piece.

You want to prep those bias strips as if you were making binding with them. Fold the strips in half lengthwise with wrong sides together and press with the iron.

The cording should be preshrunk. Simply lay it out on the ironing board and steam it. Try not to put the iron directly on the cording as that process will flatten the cord.

Time to assemble the supplies for the sewing machine. I used a Piping foot and a matching thread on the top. It doesn’t matter what color you use for the bobbin.

The piping foot has a groove on the underside to allow the cording to travel under the presser foot. There are a number of other feet that could be used, including a zipper foot.

One of the great features of the Epic 980Q is the ability to move ANY stitch to the left or the right of the center position. Depending on the width of the chosen stitch, there are up to 29 needle positions.

In the screenshot below of the interactive touch screen, the needle position is highlighted. It’s sitting at 1.8 to the right of the center position. At first, this large screen was intimidating. What did all those buttons mean? Where do I find all the functions? But after using the Epic 980Q for a while, it’s amazing how intuitive all those items have been placed on the screen and in the various menus. More on this in future posts.

I love that there’s a clock on the menu bar at the top of the screen and the other day when I turned on the Epic 980Q, I was asked if I wanted to perform the upgrade to the software.

Let’s not forget that the Epic 980Q will always have the latest upgrades because it connects to the WiFi. The upgrade was a simple task of saying YES and the upgrade was done seamlessly. I love seamless when it comes to technology.

Next up, place the cording inside the folded bias piping fabric, trying to get the piping right up to the fold. Anchor one end of the cording to the fabric so it doesn’t pull out. I just stitched across the end.

You want to stitch fairly close, but not right up to the cording. This is where the matching thread comes into play. If you happen to stitch too close to the cording, the stitching won’t show when it’s in the binding. You want the cording to be seated beneath the groove on the piping foot and then adjust the needle position accordingly.

I used my quilter’s awl to try and guide the cording as close as possible to the fold.

 Now we’re going to sew the piping to the front of the project. I’m making a table runner with piped binding. I found that with my generous seam allowance for binding, that I didn’t have to trim any of the extra widths of the piping away. I used it as is.

I used the piping foot to attach the piping to the table runner. I moved the needle a bit fewer to the right of the center position so this basting line isn’t directly on top of the previous line of stitching. You’re going to baste the piping in place. Any color thread will work.

Notice the raw edge of the piping is parallel to the raw edge of the table runner.

I overlapped the piping at the corners. This will provide a much nicer corner than trying to turn the piping. The cording is very thin, so it won’t have that much extra bulk at the corners.

Once I was ready to sew the binding to the table runner, I trimmed the overlap of the piping away. I also cut out the extra piping fabric on the corner. ONLY the piping got trimmed as I still wanted the quilt to fill the binding in the corner.

Stitch the binding to the back of the table runner as was outlined in my post 7 essential tips for sewing the binding by machine, earlier this week. You may want to stitch about six inches and then stop. Take the table runner out of the sewing machine and fold the binding to the front. Is it positioned where you want it to be? If so, you can continue. If not, you need to adjust the seam allowance.

Remember, we want the binding to be full of quilt and we want that piping to run alongside the fold of the binding on the front of the table runner.

So far, we haven’t really cared about thread color because none of the lines of stitching will show. But now, we’re going to attach the binding to the front of the quilt. You need to choose the type of stitch that you want. I provided several options in the same post, 7 essential tips to sewing on a binding by machine, and you’ll find examples too.

For this table runner, I chose the narrow buttonhole stitch.

Here are my thread choices. I used invisible thread on the top, blue for the back (bobbin) and the pink thread was used to stitch the first line of stitching on the piping. That’s the one line of stitching that’s very close to the piping so if the binding doesn’t quite cover the stitching, it won’t matter since the thread matches the piping fabric.

Here’s the finished table runner. I love it and that little strip of pink makes the pink color in the table runner pop. I’m pretty happy with my first attempt. The next one will be a whole lot easier!

For the next example, I thought it would be nice to dress up a plain fabric binding with a decorative stitch.

I searched through the menus and found this one that I liked. Notice that I have mirrored the stitch from how it appears on the menu so the “flat” edge would be stitched along the fold of the binding.

This stitch has a lot of stitching in it and I’m going to put it on the binding BEFORE I stitch the binding to the quilt. I don’t think the stitch would look good on the underside if I chose to use it to stitch the binding down. BUT, that’s something that should be explored more. Maybe it will work? I wanted to try stitching on the binding, so let’s get started!

I stitched close to the fold of the binding. Adjust the width of the stitch if you want to so that the decorative stitch will fill the binding once it’s folded and stitched in place.

Once your binding is decorated, attach it to the project just like you would any other binding.

Here are the thread choices I used for attaching the binding. The pink thread was used to stitch the decorative stitch before the binding was attached and I used invisible thread on the top and dark blue thread on the bobbin. I used a straight stitch to attach the binding to the front of the table runner.

The finished table runner. Now I did have an issue with the final join, so the binding isn’t technically joined. I have to figure out a better way to do that join. It’s on the list of things to figure out for the next series of blog posts.

It’s amazing how the brain works. I woke up this morning with a potential solution to the final join problem. I could open up the binding and only stitch on one thickness of fabric, but that wouldn’t work with a lot of dense stitches so that’s not an option.

Here’s the solution I came up with that I must try. Determine the length all the way around the project. Mark a line on the binding about 4″ from the end where you will start to attach the binding to the project. Measure out how much binding you need for the project and mark a STOP line for the decorative stitching about 4″ from where you would be stopping to make the final join. Use the START/STOP function on the Epic 980Q and the Stitch Re-Start functions to ensure that you get the entire stitch sequence in place when using the decorative stitches. 

Attach the binding like you normally would and since you haven’t stitched the decorative stitch all the way, you should be able to do the join as you use with regular binding. BEFORE you stitch down the last section with the final join to the quilt, use the START/STOP and the Stitch Re-Start functions, you could stitch the missing gap of decorative stitching. Then stitch the remainder of the binding to the project.

I haven’t tried that – but I think it’ll work. I must attempt that for the next series of blog posts. There wasn’t time to try it for this series.

There you have it. Two different ways to dress up the binding on your quilted projects. I love them both and I’ll be adding those to my bindings in future. I used to hate putting on a binding but now it’s a piece of cake. It’s time to branch out and get even more creative!

Sewing with the Husqvarna Viking Epic 980Q made putting those bindings on super easy. There was never any moment of hesitation even with all the thicknesses of the piping. And the flexibility and variety of stitch capabilities were awesome.

I hope you enjoyed the week and that some part of it inspired you or you learned a tidbit or two. I know that I learned a LOT and I got quite a few projects finished in the process. I was so inspired by the week, that I have a list of other projects to quilt and more binding techniques to try.

Have a great day!

Ciao!