What if you do not wish to do a mitered binding? I was working with scraps and did not have enough fabric to cut out a length of binding without too many joints. I decided to do a simple quilt binding instead – where you bind two opposite edges first, and then the other two. I have always finished with very untidy bumpy corners where the binding overlaps and I searched for a tutorial which would tell me how to go about it properly. I did not really find anything, so I recorded my method as I went along. It is nothing new, but I hope it will help new quilters obtain a fairly neat result!
My small quilted piece finished at 10.5″ x 14.5″, inclusive of the seam allowance along each edge. I prefer a single rather than a double binding for small pieces, so I cut two pieces of binding 1.5″ wide and about 11″ long for the shorter edges. I sewed the binding on the top and pressed it open. I folded it to the back twice and hand sewed it to the back. Both of the shorter edges were finished before I trimmed it to size, to get a sharp, square corner. I have no photos of this stage, I guess this is simple enough.
I again measured the longer edge, it was just under 15″. I now cut the binding length at 16.5″, that is 1.5″ longer than needed. I lined the binding to the edge of the front of the quilt ( right side down) , folded it to the back about 3/4″ over the bound edge and began sewing. I secured the seam with some back stitching, sewed to an inch short of the other end, similarly folded the binding over and sewed to the end; took a couple of back stitches to finish. I think this picture will explain better than I have been able to! I suggest you make a tight, crisp fold to get a neat finish.
Do the other longer edge similarly.
Now open out the binding…Here it is from the front.
…and from the back.
Now press the binding, especially at the corner where a crisp fold will mean a neat finish. If you like, you can press it to the back, fold in and press again … and pin in place if you are a pinner! Some people like to use binding clips, I get along fine without any of these.
Start sewing at the corner , crimping and pulling in the fold to get a straight edge!
I use a variation of the ladder stitch to bind my quilts. In such a small quilt, hand binding is the way to go, I do believe! The end corner is finished similarly.
Here we are, all done! Almost perfect edges!
You don’t have to do a mitered edge for a perfect binding, after all!
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