So, lets have a wee chat about bindings. It's not my first rodeo - I've bound a lot of quilts. By machine, by hand, by both. I've made double fold, single fold, and bias. I calculate what I need and bias join my strips and iron and roll and do all the things a good little quilter should do. I even bias join the start and finish - no tucking the ends in for me. And every darned time, this is what seems to happen:
This piece of binding has 7 joins, probably about 3 inches each where it is thicker because of the seam. 21 inches of trouble, over 244 inches total.
A quilt has 4 corners. Usually.
So, here is a question for a statistician: How come at least one darned trouble spot of the binding ALWAYS lands on a corner for me?! I mean ... 92% of the binding is trouble-free, smooth sailing. And look what happens. I got pretty lucky on this green one because at least the seam is centered right where it would be if I had tried to miter my binding (HA). But STILL, I know the odds are just not high enough to account for this happening every time.
And I know it happens to you ladies out there too ...
Yup, I know, I'm probably just starting at the wrong place. But it seems like I have tried to start in every different place, with the same results.
So: calling smarty-pants binding experts. Is there a no-fail way to attach a binding so you DON'T have a seam on a corner?
4 comments:
I have started auditioning the binding to make sure I start in a place so that no binding seams land at the corners. In very large quilts, I make extra binding and if the seam lands at a corner, I whack it off and re-sew the binding ends together just to move the join ahead of the corner.
Elizabeth, I always have one corner that gives me trouble, even if the seam doesn't land on the corner!
Like JoyceT, I audition the binding before I start sewing.
Ooooooo! Joyce I love that solution
you can avoid using continuous binding, if you want...see this technique - http://www.animasquilts.com/BMTinstructions.html ...
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