Binding: joiining ends

So, can I figure out days/times I shouldn't complete binding? Or can I skip every 10th quilt? Aha, maybe the solution is to make sure that every 10th binding is self-binding, or with a facing or something else that avoids this problem?

Or maybe my current solution of just walking away for a bit works well enough :-)

Hanne

Patti wrote:

I'm sure your way is fine, Hanne >g< I did learn a bit of how to calculate but it hasn't 'stuck'. Perhaps I did it on a bad 'logic' day!! . In message , Hanne Gottliebsen writes

I still chuckle over this one. On one of our PBS fund drives for the state wide PBS station, Maryann Fons and Liz Porter were doing live segments for a studio audience of quilters. (They are from Iowa and this was the Iowa station.) One of the segments was demonstrating their method of joining the ends of a binding strip. They went through the steps and voila! they had sewn the wrong diagonal. It was priceless! Liz went crazy trying to figure out what went wrong and Maryann just said something about it happens to the best of us. They had time constraints and Liz kept trying to fix it even though they didn't have any more time in the segment. I thought it was hilarious even though I'm sure they were totally embarrassed about it. The audience loved it. Liz was still fussing about it in the next segment. So....I think 1 in 10 is perfectly acceptable. (I join my ends per the directions Liz and Maryann have published on a laminated card sold at quilt shops.)

I've been following this discussion wondering whether or not to add my "method" to the mix. I don't use a ruler, or measure anything. It goes quickly and easily, but not sure I can explain it with just words. But I will try. I leave a tail at the beginning of sewing the binding down, but not too long, usually only about 6" or a little less. Stop sewing binding down about 10" or so (if possible, I have done this with as short a space as 4-5" but it isn't quite as easy ) Cut threads and remove quilt from machine. Pin a fold right at where you started stitching that is a "seam width" wide fold/tuck. This gives you your seam allowances for joining the ends. Tuck short tail of binding inside the fold of the longer tail of binding. Make sure it lays flat on the quilt (except for the seam allowance tuck that is pinned in). Pin top layers of binding, one from each end together with 2 pins about 3-4 inches apart, with edges even. Pick up biding, open fold so that you have 2 layers, one on top of the other. Make a diagonal cut. I don't worry too much about which way it goes, but it has also become sort of automatic how I cut it... so I may have just figured it out at some point and cut so that it matches... I have never checked. Just that cutting it the way I do makes it easier to sew together. Because you have cut both layers at the same time, the new ends will match. Remove all pins, then pin the cut edges together, off setting the ends so that the "notch" formed by the point sticking out beyond the cut edge is the width of your pinned seam allowance tuck. Stitch end together. Lay down on quilt and double check that it fits correctly. If so, finger press the seam allowance open, and stitch in place. (If not, unstitch and repeat, with a wider or narrower seam allowance.)

This is much faster to do than to write out, and all I need is 3 pins, and a pair of scissors plus my quilt with binding. Works well and is fast and easy, at least for me. Maybe this will help some of you out. A further hint. Before sewing the binding in place, pin the starting point. Quickly check to make sure that you won't have a binding seam at a corner by "measuring" the binding along the edge of the quilt, folding in a quick miter at the corners. If you do end up with a seam at a corner adjust your starting point and re-check. This takes a few moments (Depending on the size of your quilt) but can save some real time in the long run. (Yes I have not done this check and had to deal with way toooooo much bulk at a corner. sigh)

Happy binding, Pati, in Phx

Patti wrote:

As a professional educator, all I can say is what I tell my students "Be very careful about doing live demos".

Haven't done quilting demos (other than informal ones), but I sure have had some class demos not go exactly as I had planned...

Hanne > I still chuckle over this one. On one of our PBS fund drives for the state

Kate and Pat: I'm sooo glad you brought this topic up and shared your method! I had a friend show me *her* method and it just wasn't computing - just couldn't wrap my little brain around it.

Then, this week, lo and behold a thread on binding. I had a quilt ready to go, so I read Kate's post *very* carefully several times and went to the machine... It worked like a DREAM!!!

Thanks so much for the great > What I do is keep about 12 inches or so unsewn at the beginning. I don't