Judging quilts and bindings . . . .

I recently helped judge the needlework (including quilts) at our county fair. My partner is the owner of one of our LQS's.

First off, I was very disappointed since I know that there are some wonderful quilters in our area - not a one of them entered a quilt in the fair. No, I didn't look at the names before they were judged, but I did afterwards!!

The bindings on many of the quilts were absolutely terrible. Some of them were unbelievably sloppy. I don't know whether people thought because this was 'just' a small county fair, it didn't make any difference, or if they really don't know how to bind a quilt. My partner kept saying over and over "they need to take my binding class."

The bindings were all sorts of widths (on the same quilt). Where the two ends met was some of the sloppiest work you've ever seen. Some of them were machine stitched, not neatly on the very edge of the binding, but wandered from the edge of the binding to the middle of the binding and back again!

One lady was trying to stretch her backing fabric further than it would stretch. We had planned to give her a blue ribbon until we turned the quilt over. The front was pieced well & the quilting was good. However, she had not cut the selvedge off the fabric she used for the backing which was an extremely dark green. All the way down one edge of the back of the quilt, running parallel with the binding was a white streak from the untrimmed selvedge. If she would have pieced the backing, she would have gotten that blue ribbon!

Then there was the king sized crocheted bedspread - absolutely GORGEOUS! Crocheted with the afghan stitch in ecru. Then the crocheter had used what was probably a counted cross-stitch pattern & stitched an absolutely beautiful huge picture in the center of the bedspread. Flowers were stitched all the way across the bottom of the bedspread - probably two to two and a half feet tall. A beautiful floral pattern was stitched on the top for the pillow return. Needless to say this bedspread received Best of Show in the needlework division! The kicker - a man made it. He also entered another afghan that got a blue ribbon. I guess he has made a bedspread for each of his grandkids. I cannot imagine how long it would take to make one!

The moral to my story is - if you've made a really nice quilt - pieced nicely and quilted nicely - don't ruin it with a sloppy binding! If you don't know how to put a nice neat binding on, take a class or something!

Reply to
Donna in Idaho
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No! I could just kick myself because I didn't take a camera to the fair either the day that I judged, or the next evening when we went to hear the Oak Ridge Boys! I don't know what I was thinking of - I guess not thinking is what I was doing!

I understand that the same gentleman took a different bedspread to a neighboring county fair and took Best of Show there, too! He does wonderful work!

Reply to
Donna in Idaho

Hullo Donna Interesting! I always do try to make the back and bindings as well as I can, but I never knew that judges take the back into account! a salutary lesson. However, I have recently seen a quilt entered into a large show which didn't have any binding at all (not even a facing!!!). There was the edge, with all the quilting lines running off it, and all the threads still hanging there. Eeek! Please don't tell me this is the latest modern trend? To add to the effect - the fabric was black and the threads were white! . In article , Donna in Idaho writes

snipped

Reply to
Patti

There is a woman in our guild who enters a quilt every year. One year she was very late with it, the next, it wasn't even finished and got a ribbon! The next year she just never brought it, even tho she had filled out the forms to enter it. Sigh.

Reply to
LN (remove NOSPAM)

But did she win a ribbon then too?

marcella well, you were wonder too, weren't you?

Reply to
Marcella Tracy Peek

Not when she didn't bring it at all. LOL But she did get one when she entered the unfinished quilt. Go figure.

Reply to
LN (remove NOSPAM)

I did see a quilt at a show one time that had won the top prize....and apparenlty the judges didn't notice one place ...about eye level yet!!!...that was marked but not quilted !!!....I happened to walk into the auditorium to meet some online chat friends of mine and right as you walked in the quilt was on display. My friends pointed out the unfinished part which some how had been missed. I'd always thought that judges went over entries with a fine tooth comb , so to speak, when they were down to the finalists. Mary

Reply to
MB

The most sorely neglected element of quilts in competition is the binding. As a judge, I have seen time and again, an otherwise wonderfully crafted piece, that was totally ruined by a poorly applied binding.

Word to the wise....pay as much attention to the finishing of your "labor of love" as you do to the body of it. Your work deserves this attention.

Kathy

"Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt....and dance like no one's watching !"

Reply to
Kathy Riley

Hullo Kathy I don't suppose you would have time to give us a few pointers on how to do a *good* binding, would you? I, for one, would be extremely grateful. I think mine are all right, but since I've never managed to extract any comments from judges, I really don't know. . In article , Kathy Riley writes

Reply to
Patti

Reply to
Butterfly

Patti, I'm not Kathy, but I've been on the scribing committee several times at our local show. The judges tend to favor bindings that are full

-- as opposed to the ones that don't have batting in them all the way to the edge. In addition, if you do mitered corners, you should stitch the miters down. Just a couple of pointers I've picked up. :)

Reply to
Sandy Foster

I would be happy to:

Choose a binding fabric that complements your quilt. It should look like it belongs there, and was not an "afterthought."

Consider the proportion of your binding width. Most quilts look great with a

1/4 to 3/8" binding. Some look better with a wider or narrower one. And in the case of miniatures, the binding should be scaled down to an appropriate proportion. In any case, the binding width should be consistent, front and back, with no puckering or rippling.

Make sure your batting fills the binding completely to the outer edge. Bindings that are not filled with batting appear loose and flimsy.

Bindings on square or rectangular quilts should be 90 degrees at the corners. Less than 90 degress, and your corners will "cup" or curl, more than 90 degrees, and they will be "dog-eared" or flaring outward.

However you cut your binding fabric (straight, cross or bias grain), there should be no rippling, puckering or stretching in the finished binding. When you piece together your binding strips, using a diagonal seam instead of a straight seam will distibute the seam allowance in the strip so that the finished binding will not appear bulky in the seamed areas

There are differences of opinion among judges as to sewing technique (hand vs. machine). I am of the opinion that, it does not matter what technique is used to apply the binding, as long as the finished product is neat, crisp and professional. If you hand stitch, use a thread that matches your binding fabric. Nothing looks worse than a dark binding blindstitched with white thread. Keep your stitches firm invisible and close enough together to avoid gaps.

If you machine stitch your binding, keep the thread color as unobtrusive as possible, unless a contrasting color is an integral part of the design (I once judged an art quilt that had variegated thread stippling all along the binding. It was COOL!!) Your lines of stitching should be straight and even, with no obvious starts or stops.

There is an ongoing "contoversy" regarding the mitered corners of bindings. Many judges insist that the mitered corners should be sewn closed. I am of the opinion that, if the corners lay flat, are perfectly mitered, and do not pucker or gap out, I would not consider that a poor miter for judging purposes. On a personal note, however, I sew all my miters closed because I like the way it looks on my own quilts. Since so many judges feel strongly about this, I would tell you all to take that few extra minutes to sew your miters closed.

I hope some of these tips will be useful to you all. If I think of any more, I'll pass them along.

Kathy

"Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt....and dance like no one's watching !"

Reply to
Kathy Riley

Howdy! Thank you!!!

appropriate

Reply to
Ellison

Thank you Kathy. Lovely to have the pro tips on binding. Just yesterday I was wondering about you because you've been absent, and ... ta da ... here you are! It often happens that way here in RCTQ land!

PAT in VA/USA

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

Boy, I know what you mean. At our fair it seems as though the quilt was finished in a hurry to enter the fair. i.e.. A nice top with a cheesy, ugly, cheap flannel backing in orange and yellow that didn't even come close to complimenting the front. Or the several perfectly nice tops that were birthed, no binding, and then they didn't even take the time to press it down or top stitch it properly. Seems a shame.

Vikki in WA State

Reply to
Vikki in WA State

*snipping some really good stuff, beg pardon*

Reply to
Ellison

Great tips, Kathy, but when you say ___"In any case, the binding width should be consistent, front and back"__ are you saying that the front and the back should be the same size as each other? Or that if the front is

1/4" it should be 1/4" consistently even if the back is 3/8" (consistently)? I can get my front consistent and with the binding filled out to the edge, but usually the back will be a slightly different width.

Dee in LeRoy, NY

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Reply to
DDM

The width of the binding on the front should be consistent with the width of the binding on the back. In other words, if the binding on the front measures

1/4" wide, the portion on the back should be close to that same width.

A difference of 1/8" as you describe would not be "glaring." But a 1/4" binding on front, and 1" on back is a bit much. This usually happens when the binding strip is cut too wide, applied to the front with a 1/4" seam allowance, and all that extra width is folded over to the back.

I like to use a double fold French binding on my quilts. Decide how wide you want your binding to be, and cut your strips 6 times that width. I "fudge" in a teeny bit more to allow for the thickness of the quilt when I fold to the back. So...for a 1/4" binding, I will cut the strip 1 1/2" inches wide (plus maybe a 1/16 - 1/8" "fudge"). Fold this in half lengthwise, and press. Your strip is now a little more than 3/4" wide. Sew to the quilt using a 1/4" seam allowance. Fold the strip to the back, and you should have a nice 1/4" width on the back as well.

Remember that, no matter how wide you want the binding, make sure there is enough batting around the edges to fill the binding completely.

Hope this helps.

Kathy

"Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt....and dance like no one's watching !"

Reply to
Kathy Riley

Thank you again Kathy for this explanation and advice. I was wondering about this issue. I'd just as soon do it right as not! Also, thank you to Marcella for helpful contributions to this too.

Now I have a question about facings. How are facings viewed in competition? Of course it must be consistent with the style of the quilt, but I wondered if a regular binding would count a bit higher? TIA

PAT in VA/USA

Reply to
Pat in Virginia

Thanks, Kathy, that does help a lot.

Dee in LeRoy, NY

Reply to
DDM

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