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. Do you know how to bind a quilt?

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 are 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 yardage 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.

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 see our earlier post this month.

Here is our 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!!

As you can see from this photo, using the Deco-Bob thread in the bobbin was great for this project! Even the back of the areas that were appliqued do not have a large amount of thread build up. It looks tidy and nicely finished.

Moving on to Christmas…

Now that my fall project is done and you know how to bind a quilt, I should start thinking about Christmas. Maybe I’ll use my stitch-out sample to make one of the zippered pouches that Elaine showed us how to make on her QUILTsocial blog posts last month.

It would probably make a lovely Christmas present for someone!! Hopefully you’ll have your binding done soon and be able to display your finished project in your home or wrap it up for someone for Christmas!