Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Binding Sunshine

As you all know, I add the binding to the back of my quilts, and do my finish hand-sewing on the front. This picture shows off Chris's quilting. She used a mustard-colored thread for the quilting. It makes the back shimmer.
I cut my binding strips straight-of-the-grain, 3" wide, and join them at a 45-degree angle. I fold the binding in half lengthwise, wrong sides together and pin the raw edges to the edge of the quilt.

I sew the binding 3/8" away from the edge, and I miter all corners. When back at the beginning, I join the pieces at a 45-degree angle so the binding is continuous. Then I fold it over to the front, pin and blindstitch. It makes a 1/2" wide binding.

With my arthritis, I can't do hand sewing for any length of time. So I will work my way around the quilt very slowly, about 28" a day.

For those who asked, there are 19 different fabrics, and the quilt is made up of 36 blocks arranged in 6 rows of 6. The blocks are 14", so the quilt is about 84" square.

4 comments:

Callie Brady said...

Thanks for the measurements. I attached my first quilt binding by hand in the front also. I like the looks of it that way. Didn't know at the time that the "rules" stated otherwise. I have tried it both ways since and still prefer the hand sewing in the front. Lovely quilt and love the colored quilting thread.

Gari in AL said...

Why do you machine stitch to the back rather than the front? I did that once, by accident, but really didn't like it as well as the other way. Just curious.

Millie said...

Gari,

It's kind of an ego thing. I know how to hand sew the binding down so it's invisible, so I do my finish sewing on the front. I figure, if I can make it invisible, why waste the effort on the back? I blogged about it here: http://patcherymenagerie.blogspot.com/2009/05/blindstitching.html

Also, I think it looks better.

Jeanne said...

This quilt is to die for. What a lucky guy. Mom