In retrospect I think that I should have done the feather border in purple and then in-lined with the light thread...I think that may have looked a bit better. But, never mind, I am happy with it how it is and quite amazed that I was able to produce this without major marking.
Yesterday I made brief mention of the binding and how I had tried something different...the reason for this was that for a while now I wanted to look at that as my mitres were not turning out the way they should. Acceptable overall, but it bit too rounded and always a bit wonky. Usually I use a double binding starting width of 2.5". I attach it to the edge of the quilt top but leave some excess batting and backing in place. When sewn on, I then trim the excess away to fill the binding. This produces a binding width of about 3/8 - 1/2".
For this quilt I tried to sew on the binding with a 3/8"of a seam, however the mistake I made initially was that I did not trim the excess away beforehand. Once it was on, I then tried to trim the excess away which became a bit of a nightmare as it produced an overstuffed binding...anyway, took it all off and started again...
There is certainly a lot of info on the net re attaching binding but also quite some variation as to how to sew the binding on and what width to use (and to cut). I ended up at About. com. Quilting with Janet Wickell, and used the following formula to work out the width of the doublefold binding strip to cut:
(2 times the finished binding width + Seam allowance) X 2
Now I wanted my binding to be 3/8", hence the formula read (2x3/8 +1/4)x2 which meant that I had to cut the strip 2" wide. I trimmed (and re-straightened) my quilt top and proceeded to attach the binding as per usual. The binding fitted absolutely perfectly and folding it over to the back was a dream...it covered my sewing line perfectly and was the same width as the front (for a change). Also changed how I sewed the binding to the back of the quilt...Usually I hold the binding with the quilt facing away from me, this time I had the quilt in my lap sewing the binding in place from the top with the quilt in front of me. This made the forming of the mitre much easier. My mitres turned out great!
Interesting...I had read somewhere before that it is better to sew the binding in place with the excess batting and backing in place to avoid wavy borders, hence that is how I had done it for years. Doing it this way with the excess batting and backing removed in line with the edge of the quilt did not produce any problems in terms of waviness for me and the end finish looked much better.
Dropping by at Anything Goes Linky Party at Stitch by Stitch
Karin
For this quilt I tried to sew on the binding with a 3/8"of a seam, however the mistake I made initially was that I did not trim the excess away beforehand. Once it was on, I then tried to trim the excess away which became a bit of a nightmare as it produced an overstuffed binding...anyway, took it all off and started again...
There is certainly a lot of info on the net re attaching binding but also quite some variation as to how to sew the binding on and what width to use (and to cut). I ended up at About. com. Quilting with Janet Wickell, and used the following formula to work out the width of the doublefold binding strip to cut:
(2 times the finished binding width + Seam allowance) X 2
Now I wanted my binding to be 3/8", hence the formula read (2x3/8 +1/4)x2 which meant that I had to cut the strip 2" wide. I trimmed (and re-straightened) my quilt top and proceeded to attach the binding as per usual. The binding fitted absolutely perfectly and folding it over to the back was a dream...it covered my sewing line perfectly and was the same width as the front (for a change). Also changed how I sewed the binding to the back of the quilt...Usually I hold the binding with the quilt facing away from me, this time I had the quilt in my lap sewing the binding in place from the top with the quilt in front of me. This made the forming of the mitre much easier. My mitres turned out great!
Interesting...I had read somewhere before that it is better to sew the binding in place with the excess batting and backing in place to avoid wavy borders, hence that is how I had done it for years. Doing it this way with the excess batting and backing removed in line with the edge of the quilt did not produce any problems in terms of waviness for me and the end finish looked much better.
Dropping by at Anything Goes Linky Party at Stitch by Stitch
Karin
Awesome, thanks for the tips! Binding always seems like it should be the easiest part, but certainly has its quirks!
ReplyDeleteLove the finished product. I've written a few tutorials on binding quilts on my Technique Tuesday blog. I have always trimmed off all my excess batting and backing before attaching the binding. I suspect your older quilts have pretty puffy bindings with that excess material stuffed inside them? Or maybe I misinterpreted what you used to do. Anyway, who knew that math would be so important in quilting, eh?
ReplyDeleteThanks...had a look. Great resource. Previously I cut the excess to fit the binding, however that would invariably lead to spots where it was overfilled or underfilled.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, The quilt is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWow,....wonderful.
ReplyDelete