Hi welcome to the Final Stitch. I’m Natalie. And today we’re going to talk about adding
an easy machine binding to your quilt. Natalie: Thank you so much for all of your
great comments. We’ve had some questions recently about finishing your
quilt by machine. And so today we’re talking about two really easy ways to do
that. So Liz, what is our first question? Liz: Well our first question
comes from Brenda Bixsler. She says, “I love your videos, Natalie,
they are really helping me. I’d like to see a video on machine binding. I have
so much trouble when I machine bind, as when I bring it around to the front to
sew, I’m way off on the back. So please help.” Natalie: That is a great question, Brenda.
So we have, one of the really easy things that I love to do is flange binding. Flange
binding gives you this little edge so that you can stitch in the ditch and have a really
straight line to follow. And that helps a lot. Liz: So it’s kind of like faux piping, right? Natalie: Yep, it’s a little
bit like like faux piping. And it can be a really great decorative
stitch. It does look more complicated but it actually in a way simplifies the process
and makes it so that you have something really pretty when you’re done. But it’s
also just so much easier to follow that line. Liz: That sounds great. Ok. So how do we do that? Natalie: Ok. So to make a flange binding you’re
going to use two pieces and they are going to be different sizes. So the part that you want for
the piping is the larger size. And typically we cut that at 1 ¾. And then the part that
is going to be the outside of the binding is going to be 1 ½. So first we’re going to
cut our strips and then I will show you how to put those together. We have this great quilt
that we machine quilted on a previous episode. Liz: That’s right. Natalie: So we’re kind of following along with our
projects here. And I have a little bit of it made. So you can see the little edge once you press it
in half. This is just a tiny little piping piece, that’s the flange. So I’m going to cut a couple
of pieces so I can show you how that works. Liz: And that’s why, when you fold it, that’s why the bigger piece ends up
actually making that tiny little piece. Natalie: Right. So the large piece is
actually the inside of your binding. Liz: Got it. Natalie: Ok, so let me grab a ruler and a rotary cutter. And I’ve got this folded
in half. This is just standard 45 inch wide fabric. And I’ve got it nice and, well folded
nicely. Yep. I’m going to cut a couple of pieces because what you want to do to create this
binding is stitch the little strips together first and then we’ll attach those two. Alright
so this one, like I said earlier, is the flange. This is the tiny little piping so it’s got to be
bigger so it is 1 ¾. And I’ll cut two of those and keep them in a little pile. And
then the outside of the binding is 1 ½. And I’m going to use this straight edge
over here. It feels kind of foreign to cut something as small as 1 ½ or 1 ¾ because
I’m used to using larger pieces for sure. Liz: Right because your
bindings usually are like 2 ½. Natalie: 2 ½ is your typical measurement. Alright. So the first thing we’re going to
do is stitch our individual strips together by crossing the lines and creating a little
mitered piece. In our construction basics it’s called the plus method or the T cross method,
the T method. Something like that. So you’re just putting them together like this and then
you’re stitching straight across at a 45° angle, usually, for me it’s top left to bottom right. Liz: So you’re making a plus sign
or a cross out of your stitching. Natalie: And that just implies that these overlap. Liz: Got it. Natalie: If your fabric is completely
perfectly trimmed you can put them together right, but the reason I do it this way is because
then I don’t have to cut off my selvedges ahead of time. But if your fabrics are already trimmed and
square you can absolutely do it right to the edge. Liz: Got it. Natalie: Same difference. Alright. So I’m going
to go ahead and join these pieces. And I will do the same with the pink. It can help if you
have a guide or seam tape or something like that. But you’re just doing a quarter inch. It’s
a super short distance. And you want to go from where the fabric crosses at the top to
where the fabric crosses down at the bottom. So we’re going to aim for a nice straight line. Just keeping it lined up. And I’m going
to do the same with the pink fabric. I’m just going to leave that one in and add this
one. And I do this, when I’m making binding strips I do it like this. I just run them all through
and then I take them all out and clip them and trim off the end and I’ll show you that in just
a second as soon as I get this fabric stitched. I’m going to slide that right
in so it’s right on the needle. Alright. So like I said before I would
definitely do all of my strips at once. Liz: Ok. So you’re just
showing us a couple of strips? Natalie: Yep, just to get your started and give
you all the basic ideas. So then I clip these apart and I usually use my scissors to cut
these off because then you can just kind of go a quarter of an inch from the seam. Alright
so then you get a nice mitered edge or seam that creates that. And then what you’re going to
do is stitch all your binding pieces together. And when you get that done I would go ahead
and press them. And then we’ll stitch these two pieces together to create the
full set of the flange binding. Liz: So when you press that, does
it matter which direction it goes? Natalie: It doesn’t because they’re not going
to be up next to other seams and I’ll show you that in just a second. We’re going to
offset them just a little bit so they don’t actually line up. That will reduce bulk just a
tiny bit. If they line up though, it’s probably fine. This is just one of those things that
looks more complicated but turns out to be a lifesaver on easiness. Alright. So you’re going
to then set these together right sides facing. And we’re going to pull one of them up and one
down. Because what that will do is instead of these then hitting each other, it will offset
them. See how they’re just kind of, puts them in a different place and then you press them together
it doesn’t create like a big bulk in one area. Liz: Nice, ok. Natalie: So it’s just a little bit and it
doesn’t make that big of a difference in the long run because you’ll always have
a little bit of extra leftover from your binding strips anyways something and you need
that just to be sure that you have enough. Alright so then we’re going to join these
using a quarter inch seam, super standard. And you don’t have to backstitch because it’s all
going to go inside of a different seam. Alright. Alright we’re almost to the end and you can
see that our little pieces are offset still. So the next thing I’m going
to do is I’m going to press, and I’m actually going to press to the dark
side or the short side in this scenario. Liz: So if your dark were the bigger
side, you’d still press to the short side? Natalie: I would still press to the short
side. Ya. It makes it a little easier to get your flange to fold properly. It may not be a thing but it seems to be a
little bit of a thing for me. So you never know. Liz: Good tip. Natalie: Sometimes little things like
that can make a big difference. And I’m just laying it back. It’s just kind of at a. Liz: And to me the pressing can feel like a longer part but you can save so much time
not hand stitching later that Natalie: Yes, that is true. The prep is a little
bit longer but the hand stitching time saved is enormous. Ok so this binding is actually closer
to 2 ¾ and your standard binding is going to be 2 ½ but I think the reason for that is
that you have this seam in the middle and so it is just a tiny bit bulkier. But the
other thing about it that makes it easier is that you then have this little ⅛ of an inch
that goes over the edge of the seam so then when you’re stitching in that little ditch, the
flanged edge is in, is right over the seam. Liz: Nice. Natalie: So that helps a little bit. Alright
so next step is to fold this in half. And you can just see that beautiful
little tiny piped edge popping right up as you press along. So I will
get this pressed in half. Ok so I have a little bit of binding already
prepared to go on the quilt because I really didn’t want to do the whole thing all at once here
on camera because it’s kind of time consuming, no big deal. But I do want to show
you a little trick because some people will want to join that binding together
after their two strips are sewn together. Liz: And you can still do that? Natalie: Ya, so for me the difference is
I like to join with the mitered seam each individual strip to itself super long
and then sew those two strips together. But if you get to a place where you need to add
to your pre-made, already made binding. Say you miscalculated and you had a couple strips short. Liz: It’s never happened, ever. Natalie: Never happens to anyone. You can still
join them using that same T method so what we’re going to do is cut this straight. Just cut it
right off so that you have a nice, clean edge and then. And I’m going to cut this other end too
because that’s going to make a difference when I go to, well ya. I’m going to cut it straight.
You don’t have to. It could go either way. But since I’m already here. Liz: You might as well. Natalie: Ya might as well. Alright so what you’re
going to do then if you are joining to a binding that’s already made and what you’re going to do
is the same trick you used to join your individual seams. You’ll want to put them together like this
and make sure your colors are going the right direction. And then you just flip that. And you’re
going to line them up exactly on the corner. And then one thing you can do is just go a teeny
bit, tiny, tiny bit over because it helps line up. And what you also want to recognize is that
you’re going to have a cross here in the middle. Liz: And you can kind of feel that. Natalie: You can feel it and make sure
your seams are lined up and you sew straight across corner to corner, top left,
bottom right. 45° angle. Just as if you were putting those individual seams together. It is
important to make sure that you come out at the corner. Sometimes when you’re joining these you
can be a little off and it’s not a big deal. On this one you want to be a little
more precise and sometimes my seam, I think everybody has little quirky things. My
seam tends to swing a little bit to the right as I get to the end. So I”ve just gone back and gone
over it and make sure it goes right to the point. So I’m going to go nice and slow and then make
sure I’m still lined up when I get there. You can draw the corner, I”m sorry. You can draw a line
if you’d like. That might help keep it straight. Liz: But if you draw the line
you’d sew right on the line. Natalie: You would sew right on the line
that you drew. And so then you pull that out you can see that it does work to add that together and your seam matches up pretty well.
So then I’d go ahead and trim this off and press it flat so that we have a nice flat.
It’s just got to go one way or the other. And then I’m actually going to go ahead
and repress that fold so that it stays nice and folded just the way I want it.
Ok now we have this great big piece of binding and it’s time to attach to the quilt.
This is the fun part. It’s getting better. Ok so you just pick a side. I have no
preference. I usually start in the middle. Liz: It makes joining it later easier. Natalie: Yep. Ya because you don’t want to be too
close to a corner. That’s the only thing that I consider. So typically when you are adding binding
you add it to the front and flip it around the back. But because we’re doing a flip to the front
we’re going to add this to the back of the quilt. So I’m going to flip this over. And the other thing that you want to think
about is as you, you’re joining a raw edge and so it matters which end you start with because
if I flip this around I want it to flip and I want the flange to show. So if I started with the other
end it would be the opposite direction. Got it? Liz: Yep. Natalie: So ok. We’re going to start. We’re going
to go flange side up and the binding side down. I’m going to give myself about eight
inches and leave that just kind of hanging there because I will need that when I
go to close the end of my binding later. And then we just stitch a nice quarter of an inch
seam all the way around the edge of the quilt. And so we will probably go
ahead and join this end. Alright. So just like adding on your standard
binding now. Keep going right along the edge. Natalie: Alright as we’re getting up to this
corner I’m going to go ahead and show you how to flip and turn the corner because it’s pretty easy
but it makes a really beautiful mitered corner. And I just love to remind people how easy it is.
So hang on for one second and we will get there. Alright so I’m going to stitch all the way down
until I’m a quarter of an inch from the end of this corner of the quilt. And it’s kind of a guessing game. You’re not
getting out your ruler or anything. If you want to you can at that point turn and do that
little diagonal stitch out to the corner. Some people love to do that. You don’t have to, it’s
just a personal preference thing. So then I take the thing, I pull it out a little bit, the thing?
The quilt with the binding that’s about to be sewn on, I pull it away a little bit. I flip this
back and then pull it straight down. So I do it sideways just because that’s what works for
me. I’ll show you again. So again flip it back. See that nice little diagonal line and then pull
it straight down. And that lines up right with the edge of the quilt. You want to make sure this
fold is straight. Sometimes you’ll get it a little cockeyed and that’s going to make it harder to
create a perfect miter. So just keep that straight and you are good to go. Then I turn it.
I go all the way back out to the edge. It doesn’t have to be in any particular place.
I’m just tucking the thread in here real quick. And then I continue sewing, straight seam a
quarter of an inch from the edge. And my corner is then made. And I’ll show you that when
I get all the way around the other side. Ok and we’re getting close to the end. Alright so I am within about 12 inches which is
technically a tiny bit more than you need but I want to get right to it and show
you guys how I finish this. So this binding is technically a little bit
wider than you normally use. A lot of people say overlap by 2 ½ inches. Well the reason for
that is because your binding is 2 ½ inches wide. Liz: Ok so you’d want to overlap 2 ¾ inches? Natalie: This one we’d want to overlap by 2 ¾ so
that we have a good enough place to do our mitered binding. So I’m going to trim this a little bit
because it’s going to, it’s a little long for me. And the brilliant thing about that is now
I have this piece that is exactly as wide as my binding is. So what I’m going to do
is lay this piece right against this edge. Liz: Can you show me that up here? Natalie: Yep. Alright so I’m going to
lift my presser foot and take that out. No big deal. Ok so you can
see here I’ve got this edge, I’m going to go ahead and make that just a
tiny bit straighter. I cut it a little crooked. Not a huge deal because that’s not going to
show once I make my diagonal seam. And I’m just using it for measuring. Alright. So what
I’m going to do is put this piece right here because it is the width of my binding. And
I’m going to bring this one straight down. And you can see how far that overlaps. And then
what I’m going to do is I’m going to cut just a little bit on this side, not a full ⅛ or ¼
of an inch but just enough to kind of make it a little bit snug. So cut that straight off
and your binding is cut and ready to go. Ok so then what I’m going to do is I’m going
to fold this one back. I’m going to open this one and I’m going to bring it up and line them
up just like that and stitch corner to corner. Liz: So do that T one more time. Natalie: Yep and it’s super easy once you remember
how to unfold them. So literally this one goes up and this one opens up this way and
sits right snug in that corner. Alright. So that is what I’m going to do. Liz: And I’m just going to point out it’s totally ok
to man handle your quilt to get this to work. It doesn’t have to be all fancy. Natalie: Ya because you’re joining it and there’s
this little bit of this section that you have to kind of pull together so whatever you need to
do to make this piece feel comfortable. You can have larger space or smaller space. Whatever
works. Because once we get these ends joined we’re just going to continue to sew that
together. Alright and this is the time when you line these right up at the corners instead
of overlapping like we did in the beginning with the selvedge ends. This one you want to be
pretty lined up because hopefully if you’ve done it right you don’t have extra. Alright I’m
going to go nice and straight. I’m going to make sure that that point
goes right under the needle. Alright. Now because I’ve done a lot of bindings
and I’ve made a lot of mistakes, I always check to make sure that I don’t have a twist in it. To
make sure that it’s not too long or too short. And so what I do is I pull it out just like this
before I trim it and I make sure that either, you know, everything is going the right direction,
everything looks as it should. When I get ready to sew this together I don’t have too much binding.
And now I feel comfortable trimming off those corners. Because if you don’t then, if you check
it first you can go back and resew that seam, no big deal. And if, say for example, just as a
thought, that you’ve cut your binding too short, you can go back and cut this out and
reattach a long piece. You can even seam rip back so that, you know, you can rejoin it in a
different place, it’s no big deal. But I always check because I’ve made a ton of mistakes and it
makes me feel better. So you know, no big deal. Liz: And it turned out nice. Natalie: Turned out great this
time. I’ve had a ton of practice so trust me, I didn’t get it perfectly the first time
I did it. But I’m going to go ahead and trim this. Then I’m going to go ahead and start back.
I overlapped by, I don’t know, ½ an inch. You can do a backstitch if you want, a start and
stop, you know, all the really technical terms. And as I get to the other seam I go ahead
and backstitch as well just because I don’t want it to come off. Alright so now our
binding is completely stitched onto the back and we are ready to flip it around to
the front and make that flange binding shine. Liz: Pretty. Natalie: Pretty amazing. So
what I’m going to do first, one of the things that helps with machine
binding is pressing it. So I’m going to go to the iron and I’m going to press this
forward because that makes it nice and, it makes it so you don’t have to pull
as hard when you’re on the other side. Liz: So that’s part of the
answer to Brenda’s question. Natalie: So a quick tip, yes. I’m going to press
it out because that just makes sure that it’s, it puts it in the right place. Alright so this just takes a second. I’m going
to move that because it’s on my ironing mat. I don’t do too much in the corners. You
can kind of get right up against it but it doesn’t need to press in any direction. And you know when you’re back to the beginning
because it’s facing in the right direction. It’s doing what it’s supposed to do.
Alright so I have one more hot tip for you. Liz: Ok Natalie: When you’re ready to flip it to
the front a lot of people say they have a difficult time keeping it lined up on
the seam. And one of the things that I do is I run a bead of appliglue along the seam
edge. And that keeps it completely in place. Liz: Sneaky Natalie: And just like we did just a minute ago
with the iron, I’m going to press it down and that instantly dries it and keeps it totally in
place. And then appliglue is great because it doesn’t gum up your needle and it washes right
out when you wash your quilt so not a big deal. You’re not going to get a stiff binding.
It won’t be hard. So I have just a little appliglue here. And all I’m going to do is, I’m going to put it right up here so you can
see. Just along this seam line, just like that. It doesn’t have to be straight. Nobody’s going
to see it. And then I”m going to pull this down. Whoops, there’s a little string. Tuck your strings
in. And I’m going to put it so that the flange kind of hits right about the seam. And then I’m
going to hit that with the iron. I’ll go all the way around the edge of the quilt. And it’s
going to stick. It already sticks. See that? Liz: Ya. Natalie: Even without the iron
it’s sticking in place so. And this is going to make stitching it
down from the top so easy. I promise. You’re going to love it. You’re going to be
like, appliglue where have you been all my life. Liz: That’s a very good tip. Natalie: Super easy. Alright. Oops. I got it on my thumbnail. It’s
pretty awesome. Alright. So I’m just going to keep gluing and pressing all the way around the quilt. And it’s ok to get it on your fingers. It
wipes right off. If you get it somewhere else on the quilt, it won’t show. It dries
clear and it totally washes out. Yep. 100%. Oops, let me move that. I
just about kicked it over. Alright so I’m going to bring this corner up here
and show you one more time my mitering the front. Super easy. I’m going to put
a little dot of glue in there. And then I’m going to fold one side down and
I’m going to pull that other side forward. So hopefully you can see that. And I’m looking,
when I do a mitered binding I’m looking to match up the seam by the flange. That’s the part
that’s going to bug me if it doesn’t line up. So I just pull it and adjust it until
it’s right where I want it to be. And then hit it with the iron
and it will set in place. And you won’t even have to worry about it
when you get back around to that corner. Liz: That’s awesome. Natalie: It’s going to be so secure. Alright. Now it’s time to go ahead and add our
topstitching. This makes it permanent. The glue makes it very secure which works out great if
you need to film something last minute and not actually finish it. I won’t tell you if we
glue or don’t glue. But when you want it, when you’re ready to give it away you want to
make sure that that binding is never coming apart. So we’re going to add a topstitch. Our thread
color needs to match our flange. So in this case I’m going to use a pink on the top and then the
back is just a busy print so I’m going to leave my neutral cream bobbin in there. If you have
a back with a different color you can change and just do different colors top and bottom. But
also I’ve found in my experience often the creamy neutral color blends right into the background.
Almost always. So I would venture a 90% match. Liz: Ok. That sounds pretty good. Natalie: I’ll just use this
little piece of fabric. I’m thinking that one looks good.
So I’m going to rethread my top. Liz: And I like how you did that. It’s close but
it doesn’t have to be the most perfect match. Natalie: No and anytime you’re doing
binding or quilting you can see, let me just show this real quick. Super easy. It’s
not an exact match but it pretty much blends in. Liz: Perfect. Ok Natalie: So no stress. You don’t have to hunt
for years to find that exact right color. Sometimes serendipitously you do though which is
great. Get that all the way up there. There we go. Making this look harder than it
is. But it’s not that difficult. Alrighty. And then again like when
we added our binding to the back, you just pick a middle to start.
It’s easier than going all the way. It’s definitely easier than starting in a corner.
I’ll just go right to that. That is the point of it. Ok so one of the things that I do when I get
ready to bind, really whenever I get ready to sew. If I don’t know exactly where my needle is I could
end up doing something crazy and so I will put it under and I will bring my needle down. And make
sure that it’s going to go into the fabric exactly where I want it. And in this case I need to go a
little bit to the right. Now for this project when you’re adding the flange you want to stitch in
the ditch in between the flange and the binding. And hopefully that is just about where you pressed
it down so it comes out in the ditch on the back. The other thing to remember with machine binding
is if it doesn’t line up exactly with the ditch in the back it’s not a big deal. It’s the
back. It’s ok. So stress less. Smile more. Liz: Enjoy. Natalie: Ya. So we just go
nice and slow in the ditch. And your binding is going to be done in no time. Alright so I’m here at the corner.
I’m going to go nice and slow. And I’m going to stop right in that corner,
leave my needle down and pivot. Keep on going. Liz: Then you would just keep
going all the way around. Natalie: That’s right. I’m going to continue stitching in the ditch
until I get back to where I started and it’s going to be all done and that is the easiest
machine binding that I could even imagine. Liz: Can you show us that little
bit of the back you’ve got? Natalie: Sure. Yep. So you
can see it’s not exactly in the ditch in all the places
but I think it looks great. Liz: It’s close enough. Ya. Natalie: It’s really close. Liz: And it just looks so pretty on the
front with that little peek of pink. Natalie: Ya, it’s almost like you just went
an extra step to make it extra special. Liz: And yet it’s that much easier
because you machine stitched it down. Natalie: That’s right. No hand stitching
required. So I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of the Final Stitch. And I can’t wait to
hear what new questions you guys come up with.
