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In Memory - A quilt binding tutorial

January 16, 2008

Hubby's paternal Grandma passed away on Monday. She was an avid quilter in her time. She made wedding quilts for all her grandchildren and birth quilts for all her great-children, as long as she was able. Quilting was a place that she and I always connected.

I'm certain that she did not use my method for binding quilts, but I am also certain that she would be pleased for me to share this information. I was already planning on posting this sometime in the near future, it seems that to do so this week, in her memory, is only appropriate.

This method has been termed self-binding; I assume that it is called this because the back rolls to the front and the quilt binds "itself".

I'll give step by step instructions along with photos, but you'll have to excuse the badly lit photos. I really couldn't take my sewing machine outside in the dead of winter to get natural light.

You'll need to start this process when you choose your backing and put your sandwich together. The back must be larger than the quilt top and batting by at least two inches. My backing was too generous. Go ahead and baste and quilt your project just as you normally would.

Then trim your backing to the desired size. I trimmed my backing, all the way around my quilt, to two inches larger. Your finished binding will be half as wide as the extra you leave. In my case, I ended up with a one inch finished binding. If you want a half inch binding, trim your backing to only 1 inch larger than your top. (I usually go with the half inch finished binding, but I wanted something wider for this project.)

Starting in the middle of one side, fold the extra fabric in until it meets the edge of the top. It does not matter which side you start with, but it is best to work from the center outward on all sides when pinning.

Then fold the fabric over the top and pin in place.

Move in one direction down the side continuing to fold the fabric in to meet the edge, then over the top until you get near a corner.

Stop here and go pin the other half of your first side if you want to leave all your corners for last. Or, if you want to pin corners as you go, go to the middle of the next side (the one that shares this corner) and pin from there to near this corner. You'll eventually pin all the sides just like this no matter which order you choose to work in.

I find pinning the corners to be the most challenging part. Start by folding the corner of the back in to meet and point at the corner of the top.

Then fold this in half to meet the corner of the top again. Try to keep it at a 45 degree angle to the corner.

Next, fold the backing over the top. Carefully hold this in place while you do the next step; I have not found pinning it to be helpful.

This is where you'll find the corner gets a bit tricky. You'll have to go back and fold the rest of the side, but if you make your first fold meet the edge of the top, the binding will end up wider at the corners. So, you'll need to fold it over the top just a bit. And you may have to experiment with how much will work for your project. Start with a little bit of overlap, then fold it over the top. If it looks right, pin it in place and go fold the other half of the corner. You may have to take the pins out and adjust as needed.

Once you have a corner finished and pinned it should look something like the photo above.

Repeat this process for all of your corners.

You'll want to use a walking presser foot if you have one for your machine. If you don't have one, use your standard foot, but be sure to keep the edge pulled tight as you sew to prevent puckers, especially on the back.

Start sewing in a corner. Literally, right on the corner. Remember to back tack a few stitches right when you start. Try to keep your needle about 1/8 inch from the edge of the fold and sew almost to the edge of the binding.

Stop here, lower your needle, lift your presser foot, and turn the quilt so you can sew down the side.

Continue to sew with your needle just to the outside of the fold (you'll get steadier and faster with this as you gain experience) all the way down this side to the next corner.

When you get to this corner, stop and turn to sew down the corner like this:

I usually sew down the corner of the edge for the next side and come back up the side I just finished. This means crossing an edge before you turn.

When you get to the actual corner of the quilt, lower your needle and turn your work 180 degree so you can sew back up the corner.

Continue to sew sides and corners until you get to where you started sewing.

Turn and sew down this corner just as you have all the others, but back tack at the end. That's it.

Your finished corners will look something like the photo above. A finished edge will look something like this:

I've been able to bind odd shapes this way too. It's a relatively fast, yet neat, way to bind a project if you don't want to go the bias tape route. I've recently bought a couple of bias tape makers that I'm finding very handy, but I bet that most of my art quilts will still get this binding.

Hope this is helpful.

I wish I had done it this way when I made the flannel quilt. I ended up machine sewing on a traditional binding, b/c it was too thick to sew through, but man was it messy!

Posted by: Sarah at January 17, 2008 08:06 AM

Thank you so much! I have been dying to finish a couple of baby blankets but lacked the confidence of the "written" way! Your pictures are perfect and it worked great!

Posted by: fab2glam at January 31, 2008 02:22 PM

Thanks very much, thats the best bind tutorial I have found, absolutely perfect!

Posted by: PJS at February 18, 2008 08:18 AM

Thank you for the great tutorial and pictures! I have only made a few quilts, and the binding process has always made me hesitant to do more. I just never find it easy. But, this looks much more accessible to me! I'm going to try it for my next one that I hope to start soon.

Posted by: Tina at February 28, 2008 08:47 PM

Thank you SO much for this. I have been avoiding finishing my first quilt for a YEAR b/c I didn't know how to bind it. I always knew I wanted to try a self bind, but was never confident enough to try it from written instructions. Your tutorial is VERY well explained, and the pictures are perfect, I now know exactly what to do and what it will look like. I can't thank you enough!!

Posted by: Sam at March 1, 2008 04:37 AM

Very helpful Jenn - thanks! I'm going to try this instead of continuous binding on the table runner I'm making for my mom since it's an odd shape.

Posted by: shannon at March 5, 2008 08:45 PM

Wow, I am a beginner quilter and think this is just fantastic. I have been very intimiated by binding . . . and I can certainly do this! Thank you so much for the fantastic tutorial.

Posted by: Sara at March 13, 2008 10:57 PM

I have to thank you for this wonderful offering. I used it to self-bind my first quilt today. Thanks to you, it turned out nicely. Next up, I'll learn to do a traditional binding, but it's so good to know I have this one under my belt.

It's people like you who make the Internet such a wonderful, helpful place.

Posted by: sappmama at March 15, 2008 01:51 AM

Thank you for the tutorial. Like a lot of the others, I just completed my first quilt. Making binding to then attach was just too intimidating, so after reading your post, I felt confident about binding the quilt this way. This method helped me bring brightness around the front of the quilt as well and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

Thanks for sharing the tutorial and the memory of your husband's grandma!

Posted by: Veena at July 30, 2008 10:09 AM

Excellent tutorial thank you very much for taking the time to do it!

Posted by: Kerry Harris at October 27, 2008 11:15 AM