The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

Of Binding and Short Cuts

Please make sure you read my note at the end of this post!

I have binding to do, lots and lots of binding, literally 13 projects! Most of my quilts are art quilts and I prefer to hand finish my bindings. I cut them, gasp, at 1 7/8″ and sew them with a very scant 1/4″ seam, giving me the skinny binding I prefer. If I made bed quilts, I would probably cut them the standard 2 1/2″ and they would be much wider.

Given that I have miles of binding to do and very little time to do it, I thought I would try my hand at finishing them by machine. It’s soooo much faster, right? I’ve tried this once before and I didn’t like how the binding stitching line wobbled on the back. Unless I cut it perfectly and I sew it perfectly, I’ll have that wobble. Since I am not even close to perfect, mine wobble. I thought that perhaps I just needed a better method of doing it. On to Plan B.

My first step was to do some research. Since I truly do not have time to research (I was up against another deadline), I went to The Source of All Wisdom and asked my FaceBook friends. I received many good suggestions. Unfortunately I don’t think any of them will work. Some were for a flanged binding, a piped binding or a fused facing. My bindings were already cut and attached, so none of those were viable options.

The two that I decided to try used glue or fused strips to hold down the back of the binding. Neither worked. The glue absolutely did not work-it was baby’s breath and I needed dragon fire to hold those skinny, super tight bindings down. And the fusing did not work because my bindings are so skinny that it just wasn’t holding properly.

I’ve got a gripe about all of this. Granted, I may be just a weeeeee bit grumpy from working too much. Even so,  here’s my gripe, it’s a basic life principal:

Short cuts usually have a catch.

In the case of glue-basted binding, the videos and tutorials all say something to this effect: If the glue doesn’t hold well enough, use pins or clips to hold it in place until it dries.

Whaaaaaat? Unless I am missing something, there is no way that glue is going to hold a tight binding on its own (I tried 3 different glues). It needs help in the form of pins or clips. So, if I’m going to have to pin or clip anyway, where is the short cut?

I realize that it will be faster to stitch down those bindings with the machine than by hand, but if you’re up against a deadline and have to literally wait for glue to dry, you might as well hand stitch them down. Gripe over.

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On another note, since I seem to be doing nothing but write and complete projects for my book, I thought I would share a peek at where I sit all day. I do have a pretty nice set up.

I love my green ergonomic LifeForm chair! It’s uber comfy and allows me to sit for long periods of time without hurting my body. And what a great view I have of the pond across the street as well as my own front yard.

That shelf thingy on the wall is something I designed. It’s functional, not pretty. I wanted a place to be able to quickly stash papers and projects until I could get to them. Yet I wanted them close at hand. It works perfectly for me.

And this is my sophisticated Task Organizer System–mini-clip boards with lists of To-Do’s by category: book, computer, future project ideas, future blog and newsletter ideas, etc. I tried going digital with my To Do list but I wanted something tactile and more tangible. I absolutely love the way it functions.

Each upcoming gig has its own labeled folder, in date order, in an Ikea rolling cabinet, with storage for pens and pencils, tape, stapler, etc.

And of course, most of us have a Studio Assistant and here’s mine, busily assisting. I sure hope I get over the writing hump sometime soon. It is a season and I know this will pass and soon I will be a proud book author!

NOTE: Within the last few days I became aware that some of my Quiltskipper mail was not getting to me and apparently this has been going on for awhile. Please know that I answer emails, all of them. If I didn’t answer yours, it was because I didn’t receive it. I think the problem is fixed now and I should receive them all. My apologies if you sent an email to me and I did not reply!

I’ll be posting to Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday. I love the links there and I always cruise them.

 

Comments

  2. I am not mocking you, I feel your pain. The best short cut ever for sewing down bindings that are already attached. . . Have someone else do them, preferably as each comes off your machine. There are plenty of skilled needleworkers whose work could pass muster for the most discriminting of judges; tiny little invisible stitches. They might even volunteer for said duty in exchange for a ‘book sample’. Just sayin’, and my number is. . OK, maybe now I am mocking because I would never part with your works of art, if I were you. Seriously though girlfriend, a little delegation is a good thing.

  3. I don’t know why you’d have to wait to let glue dry, since it dries very quickly (and holds much better) if you heat set it with a hot iron. That said, I’ve never been able to finish a binding by machine, even with that tip. :S

    • Thank you Sandy! I just read about the iron thing and tried this morning and of course you’re right, it sets it up right away. And I still can’t make it look nice and straight, sigh.

  4. Love your office assistant! He is sooooo cute!
    Jenny, hand finishing the bindings on your quilts works the very best. You and I strive for as close to perfection as we can, so short cuts don’t work. The finished product always looks like a bit of a short cut! I think machine finishing also takes more time than hand attaching the binding and works perfect every time. You save time by not having to refill the bobbin, re-threading the machine when the thread breaks, changing needles (well, hand stitching needs to have a sharp needle too!), ripping out when you go off the ditch. etc. etc.! Your quilts are exquisite and you just need to build into your finishing time hand stitching the binding. Love, love, love your work. Happy stitching.

    • My Assistant says aw shucks, thank you. Yeah, I think it will look like a short cut and it may bug me. But, “done is better than perfect” too. Thank you for the encouragement Loretta!

  5. When in a hurry and I glue my bindings – only in emergency, temporary situations, I use a hot dry iron when dries the glue almost instantly. I wouldn’t want to have to pin or wait for the glue to dry either.

  6. hi!
    i do machine stitch my bindings; front and back all at once. it can be tricky. sometimes i machine baste (or a little smaller stitch) all around about an eighth of an inch from the edge. the other trick for me is just starching the Heck out of the binding fabric as i’m pressing it to the size i want. seems to stay in place better!

    • Ah, starch. Now that may change things. I have used Terial Magic in some situations where a board-stiff fabric was to my advantage. I can see how that would make this easier and more accurate. Thank you Wendy.

  7. question…. when you are pressing your length of bias, how do you do it? I press each length to the middle – almost. I leave a little more than 1/8 space and then iron it in half. leaving that little room down the center seems to help the binding snug up to the edge of the quilt when it’s folded over the edge. not so bulky.

  8. Jenny, the only time I have used glue is to glue baste some yarn before I stitch it down. Otherwise I agree it’s a waste of time and a big hot mess. Good luck with all your projects- I like your old school organizing. I still use a huge paper calendar myself. LOL.

  9. I am totally with you on this subject. Easy quick ways are never easy or quick and definitely not pretty! I can hand sew binding fast if I am using Japanese sharp needle. Ones I can get here in Ireland is useless. Dull tip and too large eye which doesn’t go through without little enforcement!Looking forward to see your finished beauty!!

  10. I hate doing bindings so I understand why you have a pile of them to do. Luckily for me, the style of work I’m doing now looks better with facings or pillowcase backings so I haven’t had to put on a binding for several years. But I do have a full size bed quilt that has been waiting for a binding for four years. I have it covering a futon in my studio with its raw edges tucked under it. I wonder if I’ll ever finish it off. Maybe not.

    • Oh Regina, I had a true LOL moment! Four years? I guess you really do not like binding! I don’t mind it really, it’s just that I have so much to do and not enough time. I was looking for a short cut but I don’t like the way machine applied binding look.

  11. I am just now reading this, after spending a good three hours hand stitching the binding on my beginner quilter class sample yesterday. I COMPLETELY agree that this is the way to go. I work so hard to get everything perfect in my quilts; it’s not worth compromising a finished project with wavy , uneven binding on the back side. I considered machine stitching this one for speed, but decided not to try to learn a new technique just so I could teach it to others — especially since I’ve never been able to get good results doing it that way before!

  12. I started machine binding all my quilts a long time ago because hand binding hurt my hands. I wasn’t concerned about how the back looked. Although, if the thread is close to the backing color, its pretty invisible. But I think you won’t be happy unless you hand bind your quilts. What I’ve been doing the past few days is putting a million SLEEVES on quilts (okay, nine sleeves.) Anyway, that has to be all done by hand. I’m just pretending that I am enjoying it :)