I can’t believe it’s already November and I’ve almost done a year of trying new things. I’ve been getting more and more interested in quilting and I’ve been using TSNEM as an opportunity to try out different quilting techniques. This month was binding.
My first attempt did not go well. I tried machine binding and the first time around didn’t get the binding attached on the back. So I figured this would easily be remedied by a second pass and the next thing I knew I had sewn 6 times around to finally get all the binding secure. Somewhere along the way I knew I should stop and pull out the seam ripper and just start over. But by that point I was already so invested that I couldn’t go back. Thankfully this was just a mug rug I made for myself and not a gift.
So when I started working on the Batman mini quilt for Josh’s birthday, I knew I needed to do a better job on the binding. I used this binding tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts and attached the binding with the machine and then finished it on the back with hand stitching. It took a lot longer than I expected but I think it was worth it.
However, I’m going to practice machine binding some more because I’m working on a larger quilt and I just can’t imagine hand binding the entire thing. Hopefully after a few more mug rugs I’ll get the hang of it!
Check out my past TSNEM posts –
January – Woodburning
February – Sashiko Embroidery
March – Macarons
April – Foundation Paper Piecing
May – Biscornu
June – Log Cabin Pillows
July – Knowing When To Give Up
August – August TSNEM – Sewing with Knit Fabric
September – Quilting with a Walking Foot
October – Stumpwork Embroidery
Read more about TSNEM here.
See what other bloggers tried!
- Kristy of Simply This Life tried her hand at drafting an EPP pattern
- Stephanie at Swoodson Says used an Ottobre pattern magazine
- Rebecca at Hugs Are Fun tried quilt binding
When I saw the title I thought it was about book binding, since I’ve been reading about it a lot recently! But hey, quilt binding is fun too 🙂 Hope you manage to sort it
I did a tiny bit of book binding in college and it’s something I would love to do more of!
good job! the second binding looks great! i never seem able to finish bindings by machine satisfactorily for myself. i also enjoy the hand tacking part of binding. looking at your pic of the black binding, it looks like you might have sewn more stitches than you need to, which could explain why it took so long. 🙂 i think i do about 2-3 stitches per inch. here is a link showing how i stitch down my bindings: http://www.connectingthreads.com/tutorials/Binding_Basics-Part_5_Hand-Stitching_the_Binding_to_the_Back__D102.html
it has been a lot of fun watching the TSNEM crew this year. definitely inspiring me to try new things!
Yeah I actually saw a binding picture on Instagram the other day that made me realize I approached this the wrong way. I basically treated it like joining my EPP projects and used a TON of stitches. Thanks for the link, that helped a ton!
Thanks for following along with TSNEM! We are planning something for next year that will hopefully inspire more people to join in!
Thank you so much for posting that binding tutorial link! I’ve read several, and have muddled through, but this one is so much more clear than the ones I’ve used, I’m sure it will be a help next time!
I used a different tutorial for the machine binding and I plan on trying it again with this tutorial. It’s a lot clearer than the first one I used!
It turned out so good!!
Thanks so much!