Binding

Tonight I worked on the binding. I didn't show how to do this on the first quilt. So what I did was cut strips from the material you want to bind the quilt with. I cut mine 2 1/2" wide. You have to splice the material together because the length around the quilt is usually longer than what you can cut from a length or width of material. So to splice things together you place the strips right sides together at 90 degree angle, then you sew diagonally across. When you open it up you will have a diagonal seam. I had to pay special attention for this print to make sure the print flowed in the same direction. After sewing the seam, cut off the excess material to 1/4" seam allowance. You then press the seam open. You sew these strips together until you have the length you need to go all the way around your quilt. For this quilt, we will do a double fold binding. The first step is to iron the length of the binding in half. Then open the binding and fold each raw edge into the middle, and iron. This give you a folded smooth edge on each side. We do it this way because we will pin the binding folded over the edge of the quilt, pin to edge and sew all the way around. Previous quilts I have only used the single fold binding that is sewn with the raw edge to the back and then the folded edge is pulled over to the front side and sewn again. So, by sewing the binding this new way it cuts out a step but I have found that you do not always catch both sides of the binding and you have to go back and re-sew some spots on the back side. I did not finish sewing all the way around tonight so I will finish up this quilt tomorrow night and post pictures then.
I am not sure how the pictures are going to post but hopefully you will be able to follow along.
1. Cut strips 2 1/2" wide (as many as you need to go around quilt)
2. Sew strips together 90 degree angle, right sides facing, sewn diagonally
3. Cut seam to 1/4"
4. Iron seam open
5. Fold strip in half and iron
6. Open strip and fold each raw edge to middle, iron folds
7. Pin binding around edge
8. Sew binding around edge of quilt, sewing close to the edge in order to catch both sides of binding
9. Check that all binding is sewn on both sides