My OMG Finished Early And A Tutorial On Binding

 I'm so happy to say I finished my OMG!!!! Early in fact! I also took the time to take photos so I could give a tutorial on binding a quilt. I know, I know there are so many tutorials out there but It seems to be the one thing that people are looking for the most. And since I don't put binding on near enough to remember, having it posted here will help me find it easier!!! 😆

Here is my finished Out Of This World Quilt bound and ready for college! 

Check others finishes by heading to Elm Street Quilt!

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - June Finish Link-up

This post is heavy with photos in hopes to help you as much as possible.

From the very first quilt I made I have done the binding with a flange, extra color is always a good thing!!! It's also done with the sewing machine...no hand sewing! I'm not good at hand sewing (but I'm working on it this year!) and I want to get the quilts done as fast as possible so I can get on with the next one!

I had the binding already done so I don't have photos of the making of that, but it's two strips the wider one is the flange color and the narrow is the binding. The flange is 1 3/4" and the binding is 1 3/8" sewn together the length of the strips. Iron the flange up to the outer binding. Fold your binding, wrong sides together and have the raw edges line up, iron to give it a crease and hold the fold. Your flange should be peeking out when looking at the top of the binding. 

The dark blue fabric is the outer part of my binding and the orange is the flange.

Starting at the middle edge of the quilt and having a tail of about 8" to 12" of the binding free (you'll need it to attach it to the other end) lay the outer part of your binding (raw edge) to the backside raw edge of your quilt. What you see is the flange and the back of my quilt. I use clips to hold it all the way around the quilt.

At the first corner (actually all the corners!) you fold the binding so that it is even with the edge of the quilt and crease the 45 degree fold.

Then you fold it back so that the next fold is even with the first edge of the quilt.

See how it the binding follows the quilt>>>

Below I show how I use the clips to hold the corner in place.

 

 Continue around the quilt doing the other 3 corners the same way.

 

 

 With the binding clipped on and having a gap between where you started and ended attaching the binding, about 12" you should have extra binding on both ends. Starting around where the clip is, sew the binding to the quilt using 1/4" seem allowance and back stitch in the beginning and end. Remember don't sew the gap to give you room to work on attaching the ends.

 Now here is the part that I need a refresher every time I bind a quilt! Attaching the ends!!!

  Cut a section off (it doesn't have to be very big). We are going to use the piece to give us the width of the binding and help connect the ends.

Lay the tails of the strips over each other (the bottom strip is peaking out to know where it is) and unfold the piece you just cut off. Place it vertically (notice the fold) over the two strips.>>>

One end of the piece will line up with the bottom  strip that is peaking out. 

 

You will cut the top strip where the other end of the piece is...Be sure to cut the top strip and not the bottom!

<<<Here is the binding after cutting the strip. The cut piece is laying on top to the right.

 

 Unfold the binding end and fold the one end 45 degree so that the top corner folds down to the edge. Finger press to make a crease. Notice that your outer binding is the small triangle at the top.

Open up the binding ends and pin the top flange corner to the top main binding corner, right sides together.

Notice where my fingers are pinched in the photo below.

To make sure you have it right before sewing, pin along the crease and open. The binding should line up.

I use clips to hold the binding in place.

Sew along the crease. Notice you are sewing like you sewn your binding together. If you see the binding is forming an "A", you are sewing the line that crosses the A! 

Notice the bottom corner is following the center line of the 1/4" washi...This stuff works great! I love it for HST!!!

The "A" is crossed! The other crease you see is when I did it wrong! Thank goodness I pinned first and fixed my mistake before sewing!!!!

Fold the binding back together and check that the flange is lined up and the binding fits against the quilt.

 

 

<<< I love when the flange lines up!!!

 

Unfold the binding again...

 

it's safe to cut the excess off.

 Then open seam and iron flat.

 

 

Lay flat against the quilt and continue/finish sewing the binding down.

Fold the binding over to the front of the quilt, clipping it down as you go around. You want the binding to be right up against the edge of the quilt.

To miter the corner fold flat past the corner.

 

Then finger press the other side over to give the nice finished corner. Clip to hold it in place.

 

Continue around until it's all folded over and ready to sew down.

Your top thread should match the flange color and the bobbin should match your backing. I'm using Aurifil #2277 Light Red Orange on top and #2783 Medium Delft Blue in the bobbin.

 

You will stitch on the flange close to the outer binding. On this quilt the flange is the orange and the blue to the right is the outer binding.

 

 

 

 

 

Sew all the way around until you come to the beginning.

 

 

And you are done!!! On to the next project! who am I kidding, I have several going at a time! Doesn't everyone!!!

I hope you find this technique useful! I would love to hear how you do yours and if you ever tried to do it all by machine.

This is the You Tube video I watch when I try and remember how to join the binding...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1srfubwAIQ&list=PLGlIVNYaoGssyqUp9ZHIiUmQBCei_J1XO&index=7

Thank you for visiting and I hope to see you again!

Sheila

 

June's OMG, My Block Count So Far And Sewing Clothes

 One of the things I wanted to do better was blogging...I failed! I missed the last couple months of joining OMG. But it just means I need to try again and harder to stay on track! 

For my OMG I want to get my son's Out Of This World Quilt finished. All that is left is trimming and binding. I figure if I want to get it done in time for him to take it to college with him this fall I need to get it done and out of the way now!

Since I have it on the table I might as well get started and get it trimmed! I also noticed I still have threads that need to be hidden. I had a lot of trouble with the thread breaking so there is more than usual. The OMG is run by Elm Street Quilts and I strongly urge you to play along. It helps me complete projects and get those ducks back in a row. Until the next squirrel comes running by!!!

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal June Link-up

 

This is a page from my 2019 journal.

Did you catch what I said... My son starts College this fall! I'm not dealing with it very well. Last month was prom and graduation. Here's my sweet boy at the prom...

 

They had their prom outside so we opted for a sports jacket instead of a tuxedo. We figured he could use it later.

The size of his class was 135 and that was also held outside. I'm so proud at how well he has done. He graduated with a weighted GPA of around 5! We'll know for sure when he gets his grades.

The next months coming up will involve packing and getting him ready for his next chapter. 😭

and ours.

 

 I'm playing along with Prairie Moon Quilts and I am keeping track of my block count for the year and as of the end of May I have only made 95 blocks. 

But I did complete a 42" Square table topper/wall hanging that I was a tester for Jen of Patterns by Jen. She's taking time off and I'm not sure when she will post the pattern and the testers quilts so I won't post it here yet. I also made several blocks for Home Is... by Pat Sloan. I am behind, I need to finish 5 more blocks. So hopefully I can get that done this month too.

I've also made 6 shirts! I found Love Notions Sewing Patterns and they make clothing patterns. I haven't made clothes since I was in my 20's and it wasn't many. So I consider myself a beginner. But these patterns are easy to follow and I feel so proud of myself! One of the last shirts I made was the Rhapsody...

I love it! And so does Gracie, or maybe it's just the attention she was getting.

As for my PHD progress...Lets refer to the squirrels! I was distracted and didn't complete any of my projects, but I have moved them along! 

I think that's about it for now. I'll try to do better at getting my blog out. I have several new quilt ideas I plan on writing up and making them, maybe I should get a tester or two? So for now, Have a great day, week, month!

Sheila