Half inch binding

The first way, unless you have a shortage of fabric and there is no other way, but it is much tricker to keep accurate. I mostly do wider bindings, I use a little less fabric than a lot of places suggest, so to do the standard 1/4 inch binding, I cut 2 inch strips, for 1/2 inch, I'd do 3 1/2 inch strips, I only allow 1/8 for the thickness of the batting and another 1/8 to go past the machine stitched line.

Cheers Anne

Ann, I've seen this discussed here but simply don't remember the solution. Why don't you make yourself a trial quilt - a 6" square of backing, batting and top using just anything. That ought to be plenty. See what works including turning a corner. Polly

I normally teach a standard 1/2" binding to first time quilters. I cut 3.25" strips and sew half inch seams with the raw edges of the folded binding fabric and the trimmed quilt aligned. The "extra" 1/4" allowas for the folds to take the binding to the back and wrap tightly to just meet the machine stitching line. As luck would have it, the walking foot I use gives a very good 1/2" seam when lined up to the edge of the fabric.

Rasputin

i do the binding like Cheryl teaches. sometimes for a table runner, i'll not do a binding but sew around the edges (inside out), turn and stitch up the opening after quilting. That way there is no bulk when the runner lies on the table. amy

People do it both ways. I line up the edge and sew the half inch seam because it's less thinking on my part, and that's a very good thing. :)

Depends.

You can do the first method - line up the edges and sew a 1/2 inch seam if......your quilt ends in a plain border. Sure, you can do it on a pieced quilt with no border but then you have no outside edge points :-)

Unless you trimmed the batting and backing to be 1/2" from the edge points. :)

Yeah, but you'd have to be logical and actually plan these things in advance :-)

marcella

You have a point there! :)

Pat, do you baste your sandwiched edges before you sew the binding on? i know the class we took, years ago, the teacher told us to do that, but i just pin everything. amy

Do the miters at the corners come out right? It seems to me that if you miter the same as you would for a quarter inch binding, there wouldn't be enough fabric at the corners for a nice miter. I think when you fold the binding up and then back down along the next side, you have to place that fold where the edge of the quilt will be, in this case 1/2" from the seamline.

Julia > Ann, There is another way, MY way! I align the raw edges of the

Howdy!

Well, no; she cut that off before she thought about the binding.

R/S

GROAN!