Mitering

sorry, cant help ya. we spell it mitre here. so obviously we must do it differently too. we hang upside down too. j.

"heidi (was rabbit2b)" wrote... Have you ever done things right for a long time, then all of a sudden not, and you can't figure out why?

For the last two or three quilts, the border mitering has been fine-- but the binding miter doesn't line up. I've never had any trouble with binding before, or maybe it only shows up because it's miter against miter.

In any case, does anyone have any suggestions?

--Heidi

Mostly sympathy, Heidi. With a border mitered, just of course you have a bias at every corner - all five of them! The bias can and will stretch. (You know that already.) You can get 'off' just a thread or two and the whole thing goes balooey. Walk away. Breathe. Use lots of pins. Baste if you have to. You can do it. It is Not easy but you can. Polly

"heidi wrote> Have you ever done things right for a long time, then all of a sudden

Thanks, Polly, for the sympathy and the suggestion. I don't think that's it, though. Those corners were SQUARE. I should have seen it when I glue basted the binding on (a la Sharon Schamber), so maybe I just need to watch very carefully for it with mitered corners. It's just so odd, but I guess if you don't have a seam pointing to a corner, if the miter's off a little one way or the other it's not going to show up. Ya, I could stand a little more precision...

--Heidi

A precious memory, Jeanne. Long ago I did a painting of a possum hanging from a cherry tree in full bloom. Had to turn my easel setting upside down to get it right. Polly

"J*" sorry, cant help ya.

Not a suggestion, but a 'condolence'. I think to make the binding mitre line up with a border mitre is a very difficult thing. It shouldn't be, because they are both at 45 °, but the start point and the angle have to be millimetre perfect to line up. I almost never do a binding wider than a quarter of an inch, so it isn't obtrusively out of alignment!

I'm sure it would have something to do with the exact point at which you stop sewing along one side before making the mitre turn. Perhaps if you made a few practice corners and then noticed where you had to stop you would be OK. However, you would have to use the same binding fabric, because one of the important elements would be the thickness of the fold/thickness of fabric.

I do fret about most things >gg

1. Trim off a little triangle of quilt sandwich at the corner, the same way you would if sewing e.g. a facing on a jacket.
2. Make sure the folds of your miter are going opposite ways on the front and back, so the bulk is distributed as much as possible.

And of course for a really neat miter, stitch down the fold >Thanks, Polly, for the sympathy and the suggestion. I don't think

Actually, picking up on that stitching down the fold Roberta, perhaps you could top stitch from the border mitre up into the binding mitre - thus going in a straight line? If the actual fold of the fabric wasn't quite underneath that stitching it still might not show?

In message , Roberta writes

Thanks for the condolences, and the musings. I think you're right and I'm going to see if Sharon Schamber has anything written about it. Time for research!

--Heidi

Thanks, Roberta... I agree with (and have been doing) your tricks, and my binding looks fine--the miters (mitres for J. ) just don't line up with the mitres (miters for those of us right side up ) of the borders!

--Heidi

s. =A0Baste if

That is one reason I quit doing a lot of mitered/mitred borders.

When you stop stitching at the corner you need to stop just shy of the border corner seam. Just shy enough that the fold of the binding corner will line up with the seam of the border corner. It's tricky, and needs to be exact or it will not be a straight line from border to the outside corner. sigh. (And it is a real trick with other than 90=B0 corners let me tell you........) It is definitely more trouble to make the binding look wonderful with mitered borders.

Oh, an additional hint that does help. I do not stop and backstitch at the seam allowance intersection/corner. I stop, pivot to be sure I am at the right place. Pivot back halfway and stitch out to the corner of the top. With a mitered border this should be just "this side" of the seam line, but right along it. This diagonal stitching helps hold the underneath fold in place and guides it where it should be. Also doesn't leave that "backstitch lump" that can happen on occasion.

Have fun, Pati

Good info, Pati. Thanks!

--Heidi