Binding - my tips - plus finishing "White Diamonds" no.14

Binding! This is actually one of my favourite parts of making a quilt. I used to hate it. Reasons being that it was the longest process to make binding and I had to make it because I could never find pre-made binding that worked with my colour choices. Once there was a massive sale at Lincraft and they sold pre-made binding. I bought so much of it simply because they were the closest I was going to get to match my fabrics. I still have some left but since purchasing a binding maker I am more inclined to make my own. This way I can match my fabrics perfectly and keep that 100% created by me reputation I like to uphold. Anyway I would like to share my tricks to making my binding clean and perfect. And by perfect I mean I've never had to redo any part of my binding.
The first tip is new because I can now use a double needle. In the top image you can see I have a double needle sewing the binding. Now it is hard to tell but when making binding using the small gadget (see in previous posts) you make two flaps which result in a crease in the fabric. On previous binding using a normal needle I would sometimes sew off the crease and when I folded the binding around I found these little creases showing on the side. They are awfully hard to iron out and mostly it doesn't help. Now if you use a different method to making binding - such as just folding the strips in half, sewing the raw edges on the edges of the quilt and then fold around - you won't have this problem. However if you have one of the gadgets to make binding like the type I make, this double needle tip is great for minimising those creases. All you need to do is keep the folded crease in-between the two needles and you will never have those crease issues again. That was a very long explanation but believe me - this idea has changed my life!
So what I really want to show you is how I join the end of the binding together in a clean and inconspicuous way. This part annoyed me the most. I tried a few different ways and was never really satisfied with the result. I believe I worked this out on my own when making a portfolio for a client a few years ago and I believe it is the best way to make the finish nice and durable.
So I start sewing my binding usually on the side of the quilt in the middle and I leave a bit of binding unstitched, like a tail. Once I go all the way around the quilt and come back to the side I started on, I sew down to a point where I am close to the other tail but still leaving a large gap.

Next I lay the quilt flat on a table and measure the binding against the quilt to see how much I need. I do this by pinching the two tails of fabric and checking that the quilt and the binding are both flat.

I then fold the binding upwards and downwards to make a small crease and then pin the binding together where they should meet. 

Next I fold the quilt away from the binding and sew the binding tails together at the crease and pin marking. Now on most occasions the binding widths don't always match but the beauty of binding is that there are no raw edges, so you can hide it. The only thing I would suggest is try and match the fold creases together rather than the edges of the fabric. 

 Check to see that the binding is flat against the quilt's edge and then trim the excess fabric. You can then pin it into place and then sew it down using your machine making sure the seam is sewn flat. 

Now you have a durable machine sewn closing of the binding. Now this example is not great close up mainly because this is a large pattern size fabric and it has words on it. However from a distance it is not noticeable and if you are using smaller size pattern fabrics it works a treat. When it comes to closing off edges like this I do prefer machine sewing as it feels more durable, plus it's so much quicker. 

 One more thing I want to share is how I hand sew my binding to my quilts. Slip stitching I find a bit hard. I do need to practice more but with my first quilt I slip stitched and well you can see all of it. I dislike it so much sometimes I feel like redoing it, but there are so many stitches it would be so much work (and I guess it shows how much my skills have grown). So because I hated seeing the stitches so much I changed the way I did it and I only have just now worked out what kind of stitch it is called. I ladder stitch my binding. Yes it took me about eight years to realise what I was actually doing. I like using this stitch though because I can do it securely, quickly and well enough that you would never know that it was stitched. I believe it gives a clean finished look to the quilt and I don't have to worry about thread being seen. While I was hand stitching no.14, I watched "The September Issue" as well as part of Season One of "The Community."
"The September Issue" is one of my favourite documentaries - you can see me watching it in the photo above - I really wanted to work in fashion when I was in high school and though I realised I didn't have the personality to be that competitive I really enjoy the process of designing, creating, producing and marketing products. I guess it is why I still do it, but in making quilts and other miscellaneous goods I don't feel so pressured because the community is so eager to learn. Yet even so I would like to promote and sell my products one day and this blog is part of it. So to all who are reading this, thank you. I really am astounded at all the different people who are reading my blog and it is really inspiring to share one of my passions with you.

In closing - I finished "White Diamonds" last night. The final product and the first finished quilt using my new Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2, more commonly known now as Thor. I'm sure he would be willing to bow if he could bend that way. So I am extremely proud of this one and though the white diamonds are not perfect I am so happy as it's a quilt pattern that I've wanted to do for some time and it has double needle stitched boarders, and I used fabric in my stash. I'm really happy if you couldn't tell. 

This is a long post! Sorry about that. I'll try and be less talkative. Eventually I won't have to explain my ways so much. But I am a teacher, it's part of my job. I hope it all made sense and that you try these methods out. If you have any tips to share, you are welcome to comment below - I'd love to hear the methods you use as I love learning new things. 

Thank you so much for reading. Sew happy.

Miss Mae