When I was at the International Quilt Festival back in November, I listened to a short lecture by Sue Heinz of Kismet Quilts.
She is a vivacious speaker and, in her short presentation, she provided many ideas for making your quilts better and better!
One of the things that she talked about was using glue in your quilts, except she wouldn’t use the word “glue”. Instead she “Elmer-ed” her quilts!!
She suggested that we check out Sharon Schamber’s video for using Elmer to obtain perfect binding.
I started watching the first video (approximately 10 minutes), then discovered that it went straight into another 10 minute video and finally into a third.
BUT, in those three videos, Sharon presented many great ideas for perfecting your quilt binding, and I thought that you might enjoy it as well.
Yesterday I fooled you and said that it was finished, but really, I needed to redo the binding so that the bottom-right corner looked better.
Don’t EVER do this unless you absolutely can’t stand it the way it is.
One of the hardest things that I have ever done was to rip that binding off…..
I knew that I was going to need to add a bit more binding so that I would have room to finish it off when it met up on the other side.
The problem was that I didn’t have much fabric left and this was the longest strip that I could make!!
Then….when I sat down to re-attach it…..THIS HAPPENED…..
Remember also, that this was the day that I was packing for our 3-week trip to Africa so there were LOTS of things on my To-Do list. I didn’t have time for this particular problem!!
Once I had worked around both corners, I folded and check the errant corner before I connected the binding…..
That is definitely an improvement.
When I rounded the corner to attach the two bindings together, I ended up with three connects really close together. I don’t particularly like it, but I can’t change it now.
SO….. after an evening of handwork, I can call this quilt officially finished!!!
Now I am taking photos (including a ruler to show that it is exactly 20-inches)…..
…..and filling out the registration form. And of course….paying my $30.
I hope that this quilt is accepted into the Cherrywood Challenge but regardless, I have had a BLAST working on it.
I guess that means that I can take down the “Monarch Challenge” sticker that has resided on my design wall since I came back from Houston with the fabrics!!
Thanks to all of you who have sewed along with me, offering encouragement and suggestions. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Does this mean that it needs to go into a “group” category????
One of my favorite things about quilting is motivating others and helping them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings, and I would love to speak to your group.
When I was finishing “Mahek the Market Girl”, I wanted to try my best to make the binding PERFECT.
I made and attached the binding in the manner that I have always used, making sure that the corner stitching met in JUST the right spot and trimming that little piece out of the corner to reduce the amount of bulk.
But, as folded the binding over, getting it ready to hand stitch, I kept looking at my corners and knew that they were not going to work well.
Then I remembered an email I had sent to myself back in NOVEMBER that had been languishing in my inbox since. The video was from Susan Cleveland and was called “Two Ways to Reduce Bulk in the corners of binding”. Click the link below to view it.
I finally sat down and watched all 20 minutes of it and found several things that were SO helpful……
Making the binding so that it is a bit wider on the back of the quilt.
Being sure that the fold of the flipped over binding is opposite to the fold of the sewn-on binding (watch the video….she does a much better job of explaining)
Taking a few stitches in the corner on the top side of the binding
Anchoring the hand-stitching thread inside the seam before heading to the binding.
DON’T clip those corners!!!
So, I did the only thing left……CUT that binding off and started over again…..
This time I carefully marked my corners so that I could stop at exactly the right spot…..
Once sewn on, I do a few other things that I think help with the binding. Firstly, I press the binding out from the front……
Then I turn it to the back and start folding it over and pressing it as I go. When I get to the corner, I use the tip of the iron to press it out as best I can…..
As I fold each corner, I press it well and put clips on each side……
I am very happy with it and think that it makes a great finish to a fun piece.
