Monday, 30 April 2007

quilt binding

It was interesting to hear how many quilters believe the right way to bind a quilt is by mitering the corners and this should be the only way. I was taught many years ago, that a quilt binding should replica the borders, thus if the border is mitered, then so should the binding and if the borders are square, then the binding should be the same. I have adopted this attitude for all my quilts however at the end of the day, it is the choice of the quilt maker. Even so, there are several points you should consider before deciding.

1. If your quilt will be entered into a competition, take into account that it is not uncommon for a quilt to be marked down if their border and binding is not consistant.
2. Your binding should be neat and tidy with the finished corners sitting flat.
3. With binding cut to the precise length and width of the quilt, it is much easier to keep the overall quilt square in shape and there is less likelihood of it having wavy borders.
4. If your quilt is slightly out of square, cutting precise length and width for the binding, can pull it back into shape.

I have two lessons on my website, one for adding straight binding and one for adding mitered binding. There are many different methods for binding but these two I find to be the most popular.
Mitered binding lesson
Square binding lesson

Hope these are helpful to you.
Ruth
www.arbeedesigns.co.nz