You won't find me being judgemental about many things - but I'm pretty dang picky about quilt bindings. It kills me when I see a quilt that's beautifully pieced, meticulously quilted. . . and sloppily bound. All that work! All that money (fabric isn't cheap, you know)! It's like buying a beautiful piece of art and sticking it to the wall with masking tape. Binding a quilt the "right" way is NOT hard - but it does involve some hand work. There's just no way around it. I've tried lots of all-machine binding techniques and I've never liked the results of a single one of them. So pop in a movie, get comfy, and give your beautiful quilt the binding it deserves. Don't you know it's going to be an heirloom?
If you missed them, you can find a video about layering and basting your quilt here, and machine quilting here.
Happy stitching!
Best,
Wendi
i'm beginning to feel a bit like a stalker...but i just cannot offer this enough: i appreciate how you present your skills. your instructions are so clear i'm left with no doubt that i can accomplish what you present. heartfelt thanks. gratitude is the currency i have in greatest abundance right now, so here's buckets of it! (cue deluge of swimmy, sparkly, happy sensations from the top of your head down to your toes!)
ReplyDeleteI do my bindings the same way and you are totally right... that's what tv's are for! :) I wouldn't say that I love to hand stitch but I do enjoy getting to the hand sewing part of projects because it gives me time to quietly admire what I just made... right before I start another project. Thanks Wendi.
ReplyDeletePatricia - I feel positively sparkly!
ReplyDeleteMichelle - You've hit on it exactly! I love that time when the project is nearly finished. Finished enough to actually finction as a quilt, warming me while I stitch on the binding. It's SO nice to pause and admire!
Yup, it's official, you're amazing. I loved this video and seriously ... you are so thorough, but I don't feel like a child when I listen to your instructions (make sense?). You do an excellent job and I too appreciate that taking the extra care to hand stitching make a huge difference in the finished product! Too be honest, much of quilting/sewing is therapeutic to me and hand stitching is no exception.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the great video!
Thanks so much Kari! Your kind note made my morning!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Wendi for that great tutorial. I am new to quilting and could not figure out how to bind properly. I have watched numerous tutorials but alas I still could not bind. You have just showed me how simple and straight forward it is. Thanks again, Siobhan :
ReplyDeleteGlad it was helpful!
ReplyDeleteDear Wendi,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog some weeks ago and I'm a real fan! Thank you for all your wonderful tutorials - they're simply great - even a child could understand it! I'm really excited to buy my sewing machine and start doing your patterns!! I really would like to make a quilt for my son's bed and I want to ask you something: in the video did you use remains of fabric you kept? Again, thank you so much for your time and effort!
Beatriz
Thanks Beatriz! Yes - I made the video in the quilt using leftover scraps. I used to buy fabric for quilts (when I made more of them) but now I just make them when my scrap bins start to overflow. Which is. . . now. I have a quilt in the works that I'll share with all of you next week.
ReplyDeleteWendi, still on the quilt issue and since you have on in hands, would it be too much to ask you to post a video showing how you sew the scraps together, please?! Thank you, that would also be a great help so start my quilt :)
ReplyDeleteBeatriz
I've got a quilt pattern in the works right now - along with a couple of additional quilting videos. Stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteChristmas time and time to sew. Love you instructions to finish off this awesome quilt the RIGHT way :)
ReplyDeleteThis is by far the best video tutorial I have come across. I have struggled with the binding for my finished quilts. No more, thanks to this video! Thank you for putting this out there!
ReplyDeleteBTW...how wide do you cut your fabric for the bindings?
ReplyDeleteThanks Gina! I cut my strips 2 1/4 inches wide.
DeleteThanks again Wendi...I'm new to quilting...been about a year...and I am always buying the pre-packaged quilt bindings but it's never as nice of a finished look as quilts I see that use the fabrics from the quilt itself to finish off the binding.
DeleteWhat a wonderful video. I have despised bias binding [because I'm not good at it :^)] but am encouraged to do more of it and pray it works out well!
ReplyDeleteDo you have instructions on how you achieved those no-bulk bias strips? I'd love to know!
Thank you for all the great instructionals :^)
Thanks so much! You can find the video on making the no-bulk bias strips at http://wendigratz.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-make-bias-tape.html.
DeleteUGH - I couldn't agree with you more. I saw a lovely quilt with a binding put on by machine zigzag because she was too lazy to handstitch. Just a disaster. :(((
ReplyDelete: )
whew - loving your blog. I'll have to tell all my followers about you.
~Monika
Thanks Monika! :-)
DeleteShould the strip for binding be made on the bias like bias tape?
ReplyDeleteOnly if you have curves at the corner or a scalloped edge. For a regular quilt with straight sides you can cut your strips on the straight grain.
DeleteYay! Thanks so much for replying! I think I'll bind tonight!
DeleteWendi you have shown me so much in sewing (I'm a newbie). You have managed to take the fear out of it for me. Thank you so much for taking the time to do amazing instruction and illustration in all of your tutorials. I will be a fan always!
ReplyDeleteNola C.
Thanks so much! :-)
Delete