UFO, The making of...

Since my big hang-up on finishing the quilt was the binding, I thought I would tell how I managed to get through it. Originally, I had planned to follow some instructions I had that had extra inches of the quilt backing folding around and binding the quilt edge. I had left several inches of backing and a bit less padding to allow for this, but the test with the potholder looked poor. Part of the problem was how thin the backing was... a simple muslin. So I ended up buying some 3/4" double fold binding. As mentioned, I read a few tutorials and tried it on a potholder and was pleased with the result, but I was concerned about the joining: I had to join two packages of binding tape as well as find out how to finish the end of the binding when they overlap.

There were plenty of tutorials about joining the binding. It was far simpler than I expected. So much so, that I am going to try to actually make binding for my next quilting project.

Once pinned, as shown in the picture, I machine stitched just inside the fold until I had only 12 inches left on one side. Then I had to address joining the binding. The joining of the binding on the quilt-- once the binding has gone all the way around and starts to overlap -- was a bit more complicated. I found several tutorials and write-ups on how to deal with it, but I couldn't quite understand them. I knew I could try to do it in action, but if I got so far as sewing on the binding and then screwing up the joining to the point I had to rip it all of again, I would risk throwing the whole thing out. Instead I found a video tutorial that was extremely helpful.

Quilt Binding: Joining Ends II . The video helped make the steps very clear, but her descriptions were most helpful. The only confusing part for me was shen she was marking the join point with a pin and mentioned something about the seam allowance. I thought she was suggested you needed to add a seam allowance for the join, but then decided I must have misunderstood as that doesn't make any sense. She did give other helpful hints, especially about not having to worry about the angle as the stitching would work out regardless of the angle of the two ends. That was extremely helpful, and as I was doing it, I actually came to understand why.

Final finishing, where the binding was joined to the back of the quilt, I did by hand. I had a used Threads magazine that details various hand stitches, so I followed instructions for the suggested stitches. It came out looking fantastic, and I felt cool having done some part of it by hand.

Final review: Quilting isn't so bad, especially as the painful memory of putting the peices together is well in the past. Funny that the binding was what took so long to finish the project, because it ended up being rather fun. I'll do another one for Catriona's bed so I can also try to make my own binding. After that, I'm guessing there may just be a t-shirt or memory quilt and that should do it for me.