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binding woes

I am not a good quilter, I hate piecing. so far I am just a frame a center fabric then bind, quilter. but my problem is in the binding. I am trying to do a continuous bias binding, and have tried several times to sew the triangular pieces together along the STRAIGHT grain to get my paralelogram I am trying to sew this seam together at stitch length 2 (0-4 is available) 2 seems to be a good stitch length to keep the pieces from unraveling when I cross cut the piece. I do ok with stitch length of 3, but when I go to 2, even if I loosen the tension, I get a rippled, sort of slightly gathered effect. Somehow this doesn't seem very atractive to have a gathered seam every eight inches or so all around the bound edge.

does anyone have any idea what I am doing to make this so nasty, or what I should do to loosen this up a bit? thanks, kitty

Reply to
Grandma Kitty
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Reply to
Grandma Kitty

If you are simply doing a frame around a centre, Kitty - assuming this is a square or rectangular centre, then I would not be using (or advising you to use) a bias binding. You only need a bias binding, if there are any curves on your outer edge. If you use straight pieces, cut from the width or length of your binding fabric, you will be fine. You can then join these straight pieces to make a continuous binding, if you wish (this is what I always do); but if you want to have straight, rather than mitred corners, you can bind the sides, then bind the top and bottom afterwards. Remember, to find the length of your binding pieces, measure across the centre of the quilt, and up and down - also in the centre. . In message , Grandma Kitty writes

Reply to
Patti

Since you are going to fold the binding anyway, it really won't matter whether the end stitch or two pulls loose since the edges will be tucked in. I would make the seam with whatever stitch length will not pucker, forget the one or two loose stitches, fold them inside, iron the finished binding strip, and then go ahead and use it.

I realize I am lucky there are no 'quilt police', but how I do c> I am not a good quilter, I hate piecing. so far I am just a frame a

Reply to
Mary

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Reply to
Grandma Kitty

It really does sound like a tension problem.

If you just sew two plain pieces of fabric what does the stitching look like? What does it feel like. Is the stitching smooth or are there bumps on one side? Can you see the needle thread on the back or the bobbin thread on the front. You might need to spend a bit of time with your sewing machine and manuel to get things fixed. Then your binding should go on smoothly and your piecing should work nicely at whatever stitch length you choose.

marcella

Reply to
Marcella Peek

Reply to
Grandma Kitty

Sometimes the fact that the needle plate has the larger oval opening tends to (catch) the fabric and makes it pucker on a close stitch and thin fabric. If you have a straight stitch plate with a single round hole that will stop that from happening. If you don't have the straight stitch plate, then you might have to stay with 3 on the stitch length if the recommended tension adjustments don't help.

John

Reply to
John

I have insstructions concerning continuous bias binding on my site. Just click my signature below my name

Reply to
Rita

Rita,

Thank you so much for drawing my attention to your website. It is wonderful and I have already found a couple of useful tips and have not read it all.

Jacquel>I have insstructions concerning continuous bias binding on my site. Just

Reply to
Jacqueline

Do you have the same problem sewing anything else with this stitch length?

I used to make continuous bias but gave up doing it. Most of my bound edges are straight, so I don't need bias binding. I just cut 2.5" strips across and sew them together (at a 45-degree angle) to get a long binding strip. So my seams are about 40" apart :-) Roberta in D

"Grandma Kitty" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@v45g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

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