🏆 How to Bind Your Quilt - Part 2 Wide and Narrow Bindings

i'd like to thank skillshare for sponsoring this video when it comes to binding your quilt sometimes you just need a little bit more and sometimes it needs just a little bit less today i'm going to show you how to take it up a notch with wide and narrow binding we're going to cover the reasons why you might want to choose one the measurements when you do and most importantly how to make it so stick with me and i'll show you how to do it hi there i'm karen brown of just get it done quilts i give you tips tricks and strategies to help you make the quilt that you want to make and if you want to support the channel please hit that subscribe button this is part two in a series on binding in part one i showed you the basics how to square your quilt how to make the binding strips sew it to your quilt and to finish it today we are building on those skills so if you haven't seen it go watch it first i'll leave a link in the notes the primary purpose of a binding is to close the quilt sandwich that is covering that less than attractive fraying edge and batting and to prevent it from deteriorating the second purpose is to frame your quilt and light picture frames you can use binding to keep your eyes on your work but different situations need different widths here is my circus tank quilt by commonwealth quilts i just love how colorful this quilt is and it's one of my favorites but it's really busy and putting on a one-inch binding just contains all that busyness a regular binding simply wasn't strong enough i could have put a border on it but i think that would have taken away from its fresh modern vibe in this second quilt it actually does have a border it actually has two here the thickness of the binding balances that inner border and gives a substantial frame to the design in the middle and here is a narrower border the design in the middle has two high contrast fabrics and an altered grid and i wanted that grid to be the focus if i had chosen to do a facing instead of a binding your eyes would have drifted off the edges of the design so i chose a narrow binding in this bright blue just wide enough to make the orange and the white pop but not wide enough to steal the show and here is a quilt that i just made for some reason i have several of my seams coming loose at the edge so in this instance i am making a larger binding that is just big enough to cover those mistakes so i don't need to go back and fix all those seams so let's cover wide binding first and what steps you need to change when making them before you start take a moment to take a look at your quilt and decide if a wider or narrower binding would enhance the design or solve a problem and make all the extra work worth it cost and yardage might be a factor a one-inch binding takes twice the fabric of a regular binding your binding has a front and a back and we double that fabric plus a seam allowance but then the binding has to make a fold at the seam and a fold at the edge to surround the batting thickness and then it's folded in half and that takes up a lot of fabric so you'll need to add an additional half inch to one inch depending on how tight you like your binding for example if you are making a half inch binding you will need between a three inch and a three and a half inch strip i suggest that you make some example pieces so that you can easily reference what the different sizes look like and what width of binding strips work best for you here's my set if you have squared up your quilt for wide binding it is this larger measurement you should use and not the size of your quilt top so for an example i will use the half inch wide binding and by my sample piece i like the result with the three and one quarter inch binding strip this adds a half inch to all four sides of my quilt so height and width of the quilt is now 81 inches by 61 inches which means the total length of my binding needs to be 287 and a quarter inches then you need to account for the fabric in your joints which is the same size of your strips so i deduct three and a quarter inches from my width of fabric and for this strip it means i have 38 inches so doing the math i round up which means i need eight strips so compared to the basic method for this size quilt and a half inch wide binding you would need an additional six inches of fabric that's quite a chunk of fabric so for regular binding i use my three-in-one tool from my video 10 sewing hacks with templates you can also make one for wider binding by using the following dimensions make the width of the template the width of your binding strip on the right side draw a line in from the edge of the width of your binding strip and make a 45 degree cut from the top left corner to the bottom right and you need to make a mark the final width of your wide binding on the left side the method for marking and sewing them together is all the same remember all these instructions are in part one but at some point you may decide that the fabric wastage isn't worth the diagonal flat seam and you can sew the strips together with a quarter inch straight seam just make sure that you press the seams open and no matter what width strips i use i still do not press my strips in half normally i do not square up my quilt until after i have made my binding strip calculations as sometimes i end up altering the width depending on how much fabric i have or how much i want to spend as with regular binding find a table or a counter with a long edge lift or fold your quilt so that the weight is not working against you line up your quilt along the edge grab your squaring up tools i like to use a laser square and when you make regular binding the edge of your quilt top is what you trim up to and your binding is sewn in a quarter inch from that when we adjust our binding width we need to identify where your seam will be because with a wider binding you need to cut out farther from the edge remember that the width of your binding is measured from your seam and not the edge of your quilt now you might want to mark your quilt here and i'll explain why how and where in the next step this is where things begin to get tricky because your edge is here but you're sewing your binding on here grab your walking foot a small ruler and some strong pins unfortunately clips will not work here make a sewing ledge at the width of your binding if you don't know what a sewing ledge is please see my video on five sewing hacks with masking tape i'll put a link down in the notes at your sewing machine but your quilt up against the edge then measure the width of your binding in from the edge align the edge of the binding at the quarter inch mark pin as you sew pin as necessary to ensure that the binding and the edge of the quilt maintain the proper distance now it might be easier to mark this in the previous step while you're squaring up your quilt but you are not marking your seam you're marking where the edge of your binding will be which is a quarter inch over i'm using taylor's chalk to mark my line then when you are sewing simply align the edge of your binding to this mark in part one i showed you two methods for starting and finishing the fast and easy and the flat and fussy both methods work well for wide binding however with the flat and fussy the overlap at the end should be the same width as your binding strip so if your binding strip is three and a quarter inches then your overlap should be three and a quarter inches or if you have joined your strips with a straight seam your overlap should be a half an inch remember don't add in any safety space on this measurement or you'll just get a lump corners are a little bit different for wide binding use your three in one tool or ruler and mark in from the corner width of the binding stop and backstitch a couple of stitches at this point align your three in one tool in the corner with the edge of the quilt fold the binding strip over the tool at the 45 degree angle then instead of pivoting at the seam you fold the binding strip back along the edge of the quilt pin the strip along the next side at the proper distance turn your quilt 90 degrees and sew your next seam you can either machine finish or hand sew the other side of your binding on the only difference here is i would take care with the corners to balance the bulk on top the bulk of the bindings to the right make your fold on the back so that the bulk is on the left if you have any problems with your fold get out your three in one tool to tuck them in now you might be asking how wide can you go if you didn't care about the expense i think the batting inside would be the deciding factor so check the directions on the batting package the widest that i have ever made is one and a quarter inches before we get to narrow binding let me tell you about skillshare skillshare is an online learning community for creatives where millions come together to take the next step in their creative journey skillshare offers thousands of inspiring classes for creatives and curious people on topics including illustration design photography video freelancing and more now this month you might know stacy from gingerbread and she has a new online class so i have been watching that class on skillshare i'll leave a link down in the notes and like all skillshare classes it contains a combination of teaching and a class project like most skillshare classes it is designed to fit into your schedule and skill level skillshare is also incredibly affordable especially when compared to in-person classes in workshop an annual subscription is less than ten dollars a month when life returns to normal these are classes designed to fit into your life you can learn and grow with short classes that fit the short blocks of time in your busy day whether you watch on your morning commute your lunch hour or in a waiting room you can continue to move forward with your creative journey without putting life on hold the first 1000 people to click on the link below will receive a free trial of skillshare premium you can make your binding narrower simply by making your basic binding tighter when you use a two and a half inch strip it leaves a lot of slack by using a strip at two and a quarter inches or at two inches can give you a narrower look again having samples on hand to refer to is worth the extra work making narrow binding is almost the same as making regular binding you can still use your regular three in one tool to make narrower binding you just add new references to accommodate the smaller size and remember when you're squaring up you're measuring from your seam line and the only challenges i find when making narrow binding is handling the bulk join your strips with diagonal cuts be careful in your corners to fold the bottom the opposite side as the top and when you attach your binding to your quilt you may not have enough room in the fast and easy method to tuck in your strip and still be able to roll it over so it's best to use the flat but fussy method and how narrow can you go well the smallest that i've ever done is an eighth of an inch but maybe you want to experiment and try something smaller still coming in this series is machine binding and fancy binding so be sure to subscribe last week my interview with jennifer menke went live and we talked about quilting for a cause it's a special interview so take a moment and watch it i'll leave a link in the notes below so if you like this video please give it a thumbs up don't forget to subscribe and hit that bell beside the subscribe button so that youtube will notify you when i make new videos you can also follow me on facebook instagram and pinterest at just get it done quilts and of course my website at jessicadenquilts.com so take care and i'll see you next time

Channel: Just Get it Done Quilts

Views: 55,294

Rating: 4.9752502 out of 5

Keywords: binding, quilt binding, wide quilt binding, quilting tutorial, just get it done quilts, how to make a quilt for beginners

Id: eZIkdOP96NE

Length: 13min 32sec (812 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 12 2021