Hi I’m Jenny from the Missouri Star Quilt
Company. Today we are going to talk about binding your
quilt start to finish, even ending it. So what you are going to do when you get your
quilt all quilted like this it’s completely done and quilted its time to bind it. Now this quilt that I’m working with is
from the disappearing nine patch window pane tutorial and if you want to see how that’s
done you can click the link below, but this one we are just going to show how to bind
it. You can see I have the raw edge here. I’ve trimmed my quilt so I’m ready to
bind it, and how I do that is I take some fabrics and I audition them. So I slide a fabric in under the edge here,
I will move this over here so we can see it from the top camera, and you can see how the
different fabrics are going to look on this edge. And sometimes you are just going to want to
go with the same fabric because you just want it to blend and go, and sometimes you want
a little bit of contrast. But today we are going to go with the dark
green. I’ve used that inside on the window painting
part and it’s really going to frame it up. I think you’re going to see it’s really
going to frame that up and just give it a great look. So when you start cutting your binding one
of the things to remember is that your fabric is, and this is for a straight binding we’re
not talking bias at all we’re just talking straight binding, your fabric is about 40
inches wide. So this quilt is only about 37 so I’m just
going to need 4 strips to bind this because I know I’ll have enough. So I’m going to lay this on here, on my
mat, and I’m going to cut my binding strips at 2 and a half inches. So I have some here that are already cut,
and once I get my strips cut what I do is I head over to the iron and I iron them in
half. And I iron them before I sew them. And the reason I do that is because when you’re
dealing with fabrics that are solids it’s hard to tell the front from the back and sometimes
when I sew them together I have a seam going this way and a seam going this way and it
just gets crazy. So this eliminates that problem because every
time I put them together, I put them together so they just work, and I know that my seams
are going the right direction and it saves me some picking time. So now you can see that I’ve ironed this
in half right here. Let me see if I can get this open here. So I’ve just ironed it in half. My strips again are 2 and a half inches and
then I head over to the sewing machine and I sew them together. Now when I lay them together, I want to show
you right here, I’m going to put… I can see here I’ve ironed it this way so
I know that the outside of my iron line is the top side of my fabric and I’m going
together just like making a little plus sign like this. And I’m going to sew diagonally from this
line to this line. I’m not going to draw it, I’m just going
to eyeball it and set my presser-foot right here and sew across to right here because
that will give me, sewing it together on a bias line, will give me much less bulk on
my binding. If you straight sew your pieces together like
this you have this fat little seam line that just pokes out. So what we want to do is put them together
like a plus sign and sew them diagonally from corner to corner. So lets head to the sewing machine. Now I have some here that I’ve already sewn
them together. You can see them hanging off the back of here
and that’s kind of how I do it. I put my first one in and I just lay it across
the top of my sewing machine. And I’m using white thread so you can see
it, but normally I would use a little bit darker thread especially on a darker fabric. So then I am going to go straight across here,
and you can see it right there. I just went corner to corner and if I were
to add another strip on here, rather than cutting it, I would just take my strip and
again just open it up on here and make my plus sign and sew it again. But I have sewn these together so what I’m
going to do now is we’re going to trim these apart. So I just take my scissors and I cut the little
pieces like this, and some people save those tiny pieces but I don’t save them anymore. I have loads of those tiny pieces. So this is my last little one that I am cutting
right here, so then you can see when I open this up it will just lay back down because
you’ve already folded it. And it’s much less bulk. The bulk is put over the seam instead of right
at the front. So then we’re going to grab our quilt and
we’re going to put this binding on. I like to start in the middle on the side,
and I’m going to put the raw edges to the raw edges. And I’m going to leave about an 8 to 10
inch tail here. And I’m just going to start right here and
I’m going to sew it around. So lets go back over to the sewing machine. So I’ve got my binding on here, and I just
line up my presser-foot with the edge of the quilt and we’re just going to sew it on
here. Now if we’re sewing this, I’ve got this
like right in my face, if you’re sewing this and you’re going to hand bind it you
sew it to the front of the quilt and curve it around to the back. If you’re going to machine bind it you sew
it onto the back and curve it around to the front. I prefer hand binding so we’re just going
to sew this to the front and I’m just going to zoom along here like this. Today I brought my Baby Lock Jane and I love
the Jane because it’s so fast. It’s just a straight stitch but it’s great
for that quick sewing so I brought that up to the table. Now when I get to the end, this is something
I really want to show you, I stop one quarter of an inch from the end. Approximately you know, I don’t do it straight. I’m going to turn it and I’m just going
to sew off the edge to the point. So you get a little V like this right here. And you just come off the edge. Then what we are going to do is we’re going
to just pull this back like this and lay it straight across. So I’m going to come right over here to
the overhead camera so you can see this really well. So I’ve sewn right off the end. So I sew down to the edge right of the end
and then we’re just going to curve this back like this. When you sew off the end like that it just
makes it lay so nice. So then we’re just gonna put our finger
in here, curve it back like that and we’re just gonna come right in here on this edge
and start down the next side. So I’m almost to the last corner here, and
we’ll show that again. And as I zoom down this side I go a little
bit slower when I get close to the end because I am eyeballing that quarter of an inch again
and I’m gonna turn it and sew right off the edge. Then again we’re just going to fold it back
make sure it’s even across the top, there it is right there, and then sew down that
side. And we’re almost right back where we started. Okay so we’re almost right back where we
started. And this is the big important part that I
want to show you. So when you’re going to finish your binding
this is just, actually a lady came to our guild and showed me how to do this and it
was like the lights went off, the bells, the whistles I mean it was awesome. So how ever wide you cut your binding, I always
cut mine 2 and a half that’s personal preference and people can change. Some people do it 2 and a quarter, just all
different ways. But mine is always 2 and a half because I
like that extra room when I pull it around I like to be able to have a little bit of
extra room. I don’t want to have to pull it tight. But here is what she told me, when I found
this out I was just so glad. First of all you want to make sure you cut
off your salvage and I’m just going to cut, I mean your selvage I know that’s how you’re
supposed to say it, I always get in trouble for saying SALvage. Anyway, so how ever wide your binding is,
mine is 2 and a half, you’re going to overlap your strips 2 and a half. So mine is overlapped 2 and a half and you
can get a little ruler and measure it. And you’ll want to do that for a long time. I can lay mine on here and I can see that
this right here is 2 and a half and I’m just going to clip it. Now I’ve been doing this a long time so
I can clip it without my little ruler. But if you want to bring a little ruler in
and make sure that however wide your binding is you’re overlapping that much. So my binding is 2 and a half, I’m going
to overlap it 2 and a half inches and I’m going to clip it here just like that. It takes a little bravery to clip it right
there. So then what you do is you’re just going
to sew it together exactly how you sewed your strips when you were putting it together in
a little plus sign. So we are going to lay them together like
this. I like to leave a little bit sticking out
there. And we’re going to bring it over to the
sewing machine and we’re just going to sew diagonally, corner to corner. It’s exactly the same how you do it. The key is however wide your binding is that’s
how far you overlap them. Then you go ahead and give it the cut. So we’ll go over here to the sewing machine
and I’m just going to lay mine one here and sew corner to corner. And again mine sticks up a little bit above
the strip, and I see a little bit of a strip coming out of the side so I’m going to put
my presser-foot down, and sometimes I’ll stitch 2 or 3 stitches, and then I’ll just
make sure it’s laid flat because it wants to get a little bit bunchy in here a little
bit. And then before you cut it off you check it. So lets check it and see how I did. So I check it to make sure it’s going to
lay nice and flat along the edge of my quilt, and this one came out perfect yay! Sometimes that doesn’t happen when you’re
doing it in front of the camera. So then again I am going to come over here
and show you so you can catch this on the cameras good. So then I’m just going to trim this off
right here because I know it fits. I don’t trim until I lay it out, stretch
it out like this and make sure it fits. Then we’re just going to come along here
and sew it down. And it’s just flat. Nobody knows where you started or ended, and
the mystery of the binding has been finished. We have completely fixed that. And I just stitch over the top and the binding
is on with the sewing machine. So now all that is left to do is pull that
around to the back. Because you sewed it on with the sewing machine
right here this gives you a guide to put your binding on. So all you’re going to do now is stitch
it down by hand. So let me go get a needle and thread and I’ll
meet you right back here. So when you sew down your binding on the top
you want to match your thread to the color of the binding, not the backing but to the
color of the binding. So I have a bit of green thread here, and
it’s just a shade different so hopefully you’ll be able to see it. And I use my needle threader because golly
I know there’s a hole in that needle, I’ve been threading it for years but I can’t
hardly see it anymore. I love the needle threader. With this one it’s fun because you just
put your needle in the end, you lay it across there, you push the button and it just threads
it for you. So when I do a knot, let me show you how I
do my knot here cause sometimes people get confused by that. There’s 2 ways that I like to do it. This way first is I just hold my thread with
my thumb across my finger so it makes an X. Then I just roll it off and pull it down like
that. So that’s the easiest way really to do a
knot. And when I, I’m going to start here so I
can show you a corner. And this is something else that you have to
do with your binding, you have to figure out how it’s easiest for you to hold it. So I’m just going to come in here like this
and I bring my needle in here and I come out the fold just like this. And so my knot is going to be hidden on the
back and then I fold this down. I use my stitch line as the guide. And right where I’ve come out there with
my thread I am just going to put my needle and slide it under the edge of the material
and make sure it doesn’t come through to the front and just come back out. So right now wherever I come out I’m going
straight down in and I slide it across like this. And that little stitch I mean that’s really
how you hem pants, how you attach appliqué I mean it’s great for all kinds of things. I actually don’t ever go straight down like
this I just put my needle right where it came out and just slide along under the edge of
that fabric. So we’ll just go along here. I used to bind every quilt that came through
Missouri Star Quilt Company, now I have two binding fairies that do it for me. It just got to be too much for me and those
women are way better binders than I am and I thought I was pretty good. So I go between an eighth and a quarter of
an inch somewhere in between those two and it just lays down so nice and is so pretty. Alright, so I got a few more stitches right
here and I’m going to get to the corner. This is something that’s really hard to
get in a book. So now I’m coming out of this corner right
here and I’m just going to take another stitch just to kind of lock that in place. Then you can see my binding is kind of folded
over here. So I’m just going to fold that straight
down until it makes a nice even miter like that. So you can see that fold is right there and
I’m just going to tack the bottom of this. So I’m going to take a couple of stitches
through the fold and then I’m going to go back down through there and come down the
other side. Then I just hold it, now there are all kinds
of things out there. There’s those cool little clips to hold
it down, there’s squeezy things. You know the little clamps, but I just do
it with my hands. And some people bind with the fabric going
this way you know they sew along this way. But I am left handed so I am going to go the
other direction but you just have to get comfortable with it. If it feels odd to you you probably just need
to turn it and it will feel normal, because this sewing along should feel normal to you. So just move your quilt around until it gets
in a normal spot. And then we are just going to keep binding
this and go all the way around this whole quilt and it’s just as easy as that. So we hope you enjoyed this binding tutorial
from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.
That is an amazing way to finish it! I will be doing that on my next quilt.
She makes it look so easy! I'm definitely going to have to try this.
Jenny is a superstar!