March 1, 1952

Its not windy today – that’s unusual for the 1^st of March. Ruby brought the cake & some things out for the big party tomorrow. I’m hoarse as all get out tonite. The cake sure is pretty.

Oh, the big party for Grammy & Gramps that we don’t know what the occasion is for. I guess it’s going to be at the Hyde’s house. I wonder what the cake looked like.

Well, it’s March 1 (already), and before I make the announcement as to what project we’ll work on for the rest of this year (and I DO have one) . . .

I’ve decided to do a binding tutorial, as I promised earlier and haven’t done yet, so that those of you who have your quilts finished aren’t left floundering, wondering what to do with those strips I had you cut over a year ago.

If you can still locate your baggie labeled “Binding”, you will need that now. I’m using my Option 2 quilt as my example for this, because it’s the one I had quilted and ready to bind. Get out those strips and get ready. Here we go . . .

Cut the selvage ends off each strip:

Next, layer two strips together, right sides together at a right angle to each other, as shown.

Pin in place, and stitch across the place where the strips overlap. My thread matches so well, you can hardly see my stitching. If you click on the picture, it should get a little larger, and easier to see if you need to.

Trim the excess fabric 1/4″ outside the stitched line.

Repeat this until all the strips are joined into one longer strip.

Press all the seams open.

Then press the entire strip in half, wrong sides together, all down the length.

Then I roll mine up like this:

You have your quilt’s edges trimmed, right? If not, do that now.

When you’re ready, begin in the center of the bottom edge of your quilt, leave about a 9″ tail flapping loose, and pin the binding in place along the edge of your quilt, raw edges even (you’ll have 5 layers). Pin to the first corner, and stop for now.

If you have a walking foot for your sewing machine, now is a good time to use it. It makes attaching the binding a lot easier. However, if you don’t, never fear. It’s not absolutely necessary.

Take this to your sewing machine, and stitch, backstitching at the beginning, and when you get to the corner, stop stitching 1/4″ from the corner and backstitch again. Remember to leave your 9″ tail at the beginning. Cut the thread.

Next, to get that wonderful mitered corner look to your binding, fold the strip back and away from the quilt as shown.

Then fold it back down to line up with the next edge of the quilt you’ll be stitching.

Pin in place all down that side.

Begin stitching 1/4″ in from the corner, backstitching, and end 1/4″ from the next corner, backstitching. 

Repeat until you’ve done all four corners. When you get back to the side you started on, stitch toward where you started, but stop before you get there, leaving about a 9″ gap unstitched, and again, leave about a 9″ tail hanging free.

Line the unsewn tails up along the edge of the quilt where they should be, and when they meet in the middle of the gap, fold them back onto themselves.

Press or finger press a crease where they’re folded. You’ll need to be able to see your creases when you unfold the strips.

Open the left tail out, right side up . . .

Open the right tail out, wrong side up, on top of it.

You’re going to match up the creases you made like a couple of plus signs (+) stacked on top of each other, and pin the strips in place to each other, at a right angle to each other like you joined the original set of strips.

This will seem a bit awkward and you’ll have to pull the strips together and “crunch your gap” to get them pinned. This is normal.

Then take it to your sewing machine, and stitch across the pinned place diagonally. This line of stitching will run parallel to your quilt top. Be careful to stitch the correct diagonal, so that the line is not perpendicular to your quilt top.

After you have it stitched, check to see if it’s going to fit the gap and lay right. If so, you can trim off the excess 1/4″ outside the stitched line. If not, try again. You don’t want to cut off your strips until you’re sure it fits the gap.

Fold this portion of the strip in half like the rest of the binding, fit it to the edge in the gap, and pin in place.

Finish the stitching to close the gap.

Now all that’s left is whipping it down on the back side. Fold the binding over to the back side far enough to cover the stitching line made when you attached it to the front. Using a blind stitch, stitch the folded edge of the binding over the line of stitching. You can pin just ahead of where you’re working to help hold the strip in place as you go, if you desire.

When you come to a corner, keep folding and stitching up to 1/4″ from the edge. Your two lines of stitching from the front side should meet there.

Take one tacking stitch, then turn your quilt and fold the next side up to make a neat mitered corner. Take another tacking stitch to hold the corners together. Also stitch the folded part of the miter closed out to the very tip of the corner. Slide your needle back to where the tacking stitches were made, and continue down the next side of the quilt with your blind stitch.

Keep going all the way around, and you’re finished!

I’m finished with mine!

And don’t forget to label your quilt, too. I wrote directly on my backing with a fabric marker.If you don’t feel quite that brave, you can make a separate label and stitch it on the back of your quilt. But labeling is very important, so don’t skip this step!