Monday, April 9, 2012

do you handsew your binding?

 This week-end, we took a quick road trip.  I thought I'd take the opportunity to finish the binding on Tanner Reunion.

I've always believed that if you're going to spend your time and money making a quilt that will be enjoyed for years to come, that the binding needs to look good.  In other words, hand sewn down on the back.


I tried a new binding technique this time.  You can read about it here.



After trimming down to a scant 1/4 inch, I turn the binding over, and sew down with a 6 mm basting stitch, using the same color thread, 1/8 inch from the edge.  This gives you a little lip to work with.



After basting, I can wash and start using my quilt.  Then, when I have a road trip, or am watching a movie at home with the family (yea, I had to get a tiny flashlight cuz the kids like ALL THE LIGHTS OFF),  I work on hand stitching the back down.



I like to take out the basting stitches every few feet.  It gives me that satisfying feeling :)


I'm interested in your thoughts on "hand sewing the binding down".  Leave a comment sharing your ideas.


16 comments:

  1. Hi Linda! I do my binding by machine, I sew it to the back, then bring it around to the front and then sew it down with a decorative stitch. I guess I do it the cheater way!

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  2. I always hand sew binding down...even on little things like runners and mug rugs! Just the way I was taught!

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  3. I always hand sew the binding to the back, mainly because I have not been able to machine stitch the binding well enough. I can't seem to line up the stitching on the backside so that it only stitches on the binding and not the quilt itself (guess I am picky, picky that way). I'm taking a binding class in May at a quilting conference and looking forward to learning the tricks so I can eliminate hand sewn bindings because I think the machine sewn bindings are more durable.

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  4. Interesting way to do it, I always hand sew the binding down on everything no matter how big or small, looks neater I think.

    Helen

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  5. I always hand sew the binding on my quilts. If I thought I could make the machine stitched binding look nice, I would do that.

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  6. Hi! I hopped over from Amy Ellis's Challenge Linky party...love your finish! I always hand sew the binding to the back. I tried machine stitching it once and didn't do too well. LOL

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  7. I always hand stitched to the back, however, lately most of my quilts are machine bound. I find that it's a little more able to stand up to being washed multiple times for kids quilts. If it matters to me, I will still hand stitch the binding down.

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  8. I always try to hand sew. The few times I have machine stitched, I just didn't like it. However, I saw an adorable blanket stitched binding today, and thought that would be doable. I do not like the zig-zag rage right now...but I think it is all personal opinion!

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  9. Will always hand sew my binding because I've never been able to perfect sewing it on by machine. I like the hand sewn look much better but that is just my opinion.

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  10. I used to machine stitch it to the front and then hand sew the back but came across a great 'machine binding' tutorial on Red Pepper Quilts. It was tricky for the first 5 quilts but now I am able to sew in the binding ditch at the front without missing a section on the back. Not convinced it is faster yet. I think hand stitching is a lovely way to watch a lot of ABC and BBC shows though.

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  11. I've done a combo of both machine and hand stitching the binding, but I think I like hand stitching it the best, very nice end to the quilt, don't you think! Beautiful quilt BTW!

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  12. I have done both. It depends on the end-user. If I know someone is going to wash/dry the quilt often, I machine sew the binding. If I know it is going to be a treasured gift and treated as such, definitely hand stitching the binding is a must.

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  13. I almost always hand-sew my binding to the back, since my attempts at machine sewing have turned out poorly every time. The basting is a great tip, though, especially for take-along projects!

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  14. Normally I hand sew mine, but I just tried the zig zag tutorial from Stitched in Color and I loved it. SO much quicker and sturdier!

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  15. I didn't make so many quilts yet but I sew them always by hand. But I love to make my whole quilts by hand.

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  16. I always hand sew my binding on, I think it looks nicer. I saw a zigzag method for machine stitching it and I thought it looked awful!

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Thank you for your comments.