Cutting Your Binding Strips

1-	Before you begin to make your binding, you need to figure out how much you will need for your quilt. Measure the length of each side of the quilt and add all the lengths together. To this amount add an additional 12 inches. This additional amount allows an extra 3 inches at each corner for your miters.
2-	Assuming you are working with fabric which is 45" wide, divide 45 into the total amount you had from Step 1 and round up to the next highest number. This will tell you how many binding strips you will need for this project. For example, a quilt which is 4 ft square has a perimeter of 192 inches to which you add 12 inches for the corners. The total number is now 204 inches. 45 divides into 204 inches 4 times with 24 left over. When you round up, you find that you will need to cut 5 strips of fabric which is 45" wide to make your binding.
3-	Cut your binding strips 2 inches wide. This will make for a 1/4 inch binding on your quilt. Cut as many strips as you figured in Step 2 that your quilt will need.

Making Your Quilt Binding

1-	Take out the 2" wide binding strips you cut earlier. Iron to make sure they are free from wrinkles. Set aside all but two strips.
2-	Take your two strips and press out any wrinkles. Lay the first stripdown the length of your ironing board with the right side of the fabric facing up. Lay the second strip (right side down) perpendicularly onto the first strip at the rightend to form an exact right angle (a turned around "L"). The edges/corners shouldmatch exactly. (See illustration A). Illustration A
3-	Pull the upper right corner over to the lower left corner, forming a triangle and presswith the iron. (See illustration B) Illustration B Carefully open the triangle, and you will have a crease marking where you will needto sew. Pin along either side of the crease to keep the pieces from shifting. (Seeillustration C) Illustration C Take these two strips to the sewing machine and sew along the line you pinned andpressed. The line should go from the upper left corner to the lower right corner. Press the strips open on the right side of the fabric. If you matched it up correctly, Itshould look like a continuous strip, and you should trim the excess fabric, leaving a1/4" seam. (See illustration D) Illustration D Press the seam open. Continue in this manner, attaching one additional strip at atime to the last strip you placed on the board until you have attached all your strips. Alldiagonal seams should be going in the same direction.
4-	Fold the long binding in half with the wrong sides together so that the binding isnow 1" wide. Use an iron to press the fold with the edges even with each other.

Attaching Your Binding

1-	Lay out your quilt and place a pin 1/4" from each corner as in this illustration.
2-	Beginning a third of the way down on one side of the quilt, place your bindingalong the edge of the quilt. The cut edges (not the folded edge) should be placed along the edgeof your quilt top. Leaving yourself a tail of about 5 to 6 inches at the beginning, sew the bindingto your quilt using a 1/4" seam. Sew until you get near to your pin. Walk the needle forward until it comes down on top of thepin. With the needle still in the fabric, lift your presser foot, remove the pin, and pivot the quiltuntil the corner point directly toward you and is in a direct line with the corner. Sew directly offthe corner. Remove from the machine, clip the threads and make sure the seam is correctly done.It should meet the corner exactly. (See illustration E) Illustration E
3-	Fold the binding up and to your left along that diagonal seam to the corner. Finger press thediagonal seam. (See illustration F) Illustration F Hold the diagonal fold in place with your thumb and fold the excess binding back down towardyou until the flat fold is even with the top and right side of the quilt. (See illustration G) Illustration G With the folds in place, begin sewing ahead of the edge and down the length of this next side ofthe quilt until you come to the next pin. (See illustration H) Illustration H Repeat the same procedure with each of the following three corners. (See illustration I and J) Illustration I Illustration J
4-	After you have sewn a few inches past the last corner, take the quilt off the sewing machine andclip all the loose threads. Be careful not to cut either end of the binding. Lay the remaining binding material along the quilt edge so that it overlaps the 5 to 6 inch tail youleft at the beginning. Use a seam gauge to measure the binding material on the top. You shouldcut the top material so that it only overlaps the bottom tail by « inch. Be very careful to be accurate. It is essential that no less than a 1/2" overlap is left. Cutting toomuch will result in a binding that is too short to cover the remaining space on the quilt edge. If you find that too much has been cut, you will need to add an additional strip to one end ofthe binding. Follow the directions again under "Trimming and Binding" on the previouspage before continuing with the remainder of this section. Open up the fold in the binding material on both tails. Place the material together with right sidesfacing each other. Pin in place and sew together with a 1/4 inch seam. If you cut and sewed thisaccurately, the binding material will lay flat on the quilt without causing the quilt to wrinkle orwithout being wrinkled itself. (See illustration K) Illustration 7
5-	Lay the quilt in the sewing machine again and beginning just slightly ahead of where you endedyour seam before, finish sewing the rest of the binding in place. Clip all the loose threads. Foldthe binding around to the back side of the quilt so that it covers the seam from attaching thebinding to the front by machine. Pin in place. Pay special attention to the corners. Fold in such away that the corners look mitered.
6-	Using a thread color which blends in with your binding material, hand stitch the binding to theback. Be careful to only pick up the backing and batting so your stitches won't show on thefront. Using tiny stitches, make two running stitches forward and one back. Pay special attentionto the corners. Stitch them with extra stitches to anchor the corners down.

These project instructions are © 1998-2005 Rachel K. Ivey and Serial Quilter Studios. Permission is granted to print and copy these instructions for your personal use only. No rights are granted to publish, whether by electronic, print, or other media, or circulate these instructions without express written permission from
Rachel K. Ivey and Serial Quilter Studios.