at heirloom creations we are always being asked what is the easiest way to put binding
on my quilt so today we're going to show you the easiest fastest down-and-dirty way from start to
finish in six easy steps we're going to start off by actually cutting your binding you can cut it
between two and a half and two and one-quarter inch wide strips you can go ahead and use your
rotary cutter and mat and cut apart or if you're like me you choose the shape cut plus this will
allow you to cut multiple strips at one even past is one right after the other just line up your
fabric and away you go to sew all the strip's together in two end to form the binding we're
going to stitch along the diagonal from corner to corner here now if you don't want to draw a line
try one of the new clearly perfect angles this is a item you can purchase it sits right at your
sewing machine it's going to clean get it lined up here cling to the bed of your machine or to
your cabinet and this line here is what I'm going to actually follow and just put this in start to
stitch when I get the needle lined up where I need to start I'm going to then look down here at the
lower corner and keep my eye at this point that way I have a perfectly 45-degree stitching line
on every single binding piece when you get one done just bring that tail over do right
side up bring your next one in and keep sewing until you connect all the pieces together lay
in perpendicular line it up put it in watch down below here line it down the center and away you go
perfect every time after you've sewn all your strips together trim apart the pieces about a
quarter inch away you can use scissors or a rotary cutter next we're going to find our
end and start to press we're going to press the wrong sides together the form our binding
when you get to a steam press it open that way it will lay nice and flat next to your quilt a
quick tip for storing your binding until you need it wrap it around a ruler and then tie it up and
it will stay nice and neat until you're ready to apply it to your quilt to apply the binding
to the quilt start by attaching the walking foot to the SOI machine take the binding raw
edges and match it to the raw edges of your quilt take and open up this top edge we're
going to fold down a diagonal corner here and then recreate that into its binding shape what
we've just made is a little pocket when we get all the way wrap back around to the other side
we're going to just take the end tuck it in here and sew it closed that's how easy it is
to start and stop in this particular method so we're going to use a quarter inch seam
allowance just going to start stitching I'm going to actually open this up a little bit
when I get aways go into it I'm going to stop lift up my presser foot can I come back on top
so I can start stitching all the way down to the corner as I get to the corner this is the
part that people always ask us about we want to stop a quarter inch from the end of our quilt
with that so whether you put a pin in there and mark it and just make sure you don't go over that
amount I'm going to take one more stitch and then I'm going to reverse just to give it a little bit
of a security stitch right there when you pull it out completely remove it from the sewing machine
and now we're ready to create that mitered corner the first thing you want to do is actually twist
the fabric of the binding all the way up this way you know you've done it right because the
edge of the quilt will match up with the binding raw edge kind of finger press that down then take
the whole binding and bring it towards you even making the fold of it even at the top of the quilt
bring this back into the machine you don't have to worry about where you start I usually start
in a ways and then just reverse back that gives me a nice secure stitch and continue on around
ready to see how we connect the end point to where we started as we approach
we're going to go ahead and just trim that down so it's going to tuck into that little
pocket we create it line up the raw edges tuck it in never to be seen ever again
now that is a no math method connect to where you started with your stitching and then let's
see how we're just going to take it to the iron press out along the front side of the
quilt when you get to the corners you're going to see that that extra little fold you made is
just enough to perfectly miter the binding to the back of the quilt now so a little trick is
to use a high contrast thread in the bobbin and then that way if you are using and doing hand
stitching you can easily see that line of thread and know where to roll the back to so you can
hand stitch this closed or if you'd like put that back in the sewing machine use an edge stitch foot
or a walking foot with the stitch in the ditch option and just stitch down through the ditch
catching the back all the way around once again okay I have a little confession to make when I
was putting this binding on this particular quilt when it was finished it found itself with the back
and the batting all even with the front of the quilt which is not normally the way it is when
possible and you'll probably find yourself with batting and back extending past your binding is
you want to go ahead and put your binding on before you do any trimming of the batting and
back away from the quilt so after you've done your stitching and your corners you're going to
go ahead and trim down to a quarter inch away from the final quilt and binding edge see how
we've left a little bit of the batting showing all the way around our quilt what that will do
is give just a little extra filler to the binding when you go and turn that to the backside see
how much fuller that is when it's all said and done that is a way a good binding should look