Binding Question

Theoretically, the length of the binding is exactly the same as the outside measurement of the quilt before binding plus your seam allowance for joining the "tails". I say "theoretically" because I tend to stretch my binding ever-so-slightly as I sew it down -- just enough to avoid a ripply edge, but not so much as to make it cup.

Do you intend to join pieces of various lengths to make the binding, or will they all be the same? I would be inclined to use random lengths so that when you join the ends it would be less noticeable. I once bound a scrappy quilt with leftover ends of binding from various quilts. The leftover bindings were of various lengths and I used them as they were. I liked the effect as the quilt itself was very scrappy. It may or may not be appropriate for your quilt.

Julia > My brain is just refusing to cooperate in thinking this through to get the

One thing I want to mention is that your sections aren't very long- be very, very careful that a seam won't fall in the corner at the miter. Some pinning would be a very good idea for this type of binding to be certain where the seams will fall.

As far as the fabrics- I'd cut each piece about 4+ in. longer than the desired finished section size to allow for the diagonal seams on both ends to join the sections.

It should look really nice- please share a pic when you finish?

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

If you are joining fabric strips with a diagonal seam and, as an example, you have 3" wide strips of fabric, you need to add an additional 3" of fabric length **for each seam**. That means a total of

6" when both ends are joined. Same goes for 2" or 4", etc. -- make the length of the fabric strip as much longer as the strip is wide -- for each seam -- to account for the loss of fabric when using a diagonal seam. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Your method is the way I do all my binding. I add the length of all four sides plus 8-10" per corner, and I always have plenty that way.

Trixie

per corner?? good grief, how much do you have left over at the end then? seems an inordinate extra lot of inches. j.

"Trixie" wrote... Your method is the way I do all my binding. I add the length of all four sides plus 8-10" per corner, and I always have plenty that way.

Well, yes, Jeanne, it does seem like heaps too much but I over estimate too. Some folks can't bear leftovers; some of us are just more comfortable with them. As to having a seam hit at a corner, that's easy enough to avoid. About

9" before a corner, you just check and be sure that a seam isn't going to gum up the works. If so, that's a good time to cut out some length to force the seam to happen sooner. (We started out with enough to do that.) Polly

I usually have plenty of what I am working with so I tend to just cut an extra length after a sort of guestimate as to how much I'll need. If you take all those ends (which are not too very short) and stitch them together they make a fun binding for a scrappy quilt. I have a ziplock that I save them all back in. Taria

The corners was another concern of mine, especially using the shorter pieces. So the left-over stuff from the wedding quilt that I have sewn together, I think I will just use them in some kind of quilt rather than for binding. I have a picture of the wedding quilt but it isn't a good one so I'm waiting for my son to email me a better one.

Hugs, Kim

That's exactly what I did for this quilt, though the picture is before quilting and binding . I really like the effect it has on such a scrappy quilt.

Julia > I usually have plenty of what I am working with so I tend to just cut an > extra

I will probably use 4" strips in two different colors for the binding. I want it to have the candy cane or barber pole effect. I just couldn't get my brain wrapped around how long to cut the strips to get the angle. On the wedding quilt I ended up just using strips to match the borders in opposite colors. If that makes sense. But I want to use the strips on a future quilt. And I do have a lot of scraps that I could use this way for a scrappy quilt later on. Thanks for your input Julia, I really appreciate it.

Hugs, Kim

What a wonderful quilt, Julia! I love it.

--Heidi