Binding a quilt with the quilt back
I made a doll quilt before Christmas and realized I’d never posted a tutorial on this quick and easy binding method. Since I know a lot of you are beginners…this is a really great way to dip your toes into binding a quilt. I especially love it for small things like hot pads, table toppers, or a mini quilt.
1. Baste your quilt. Normally I would cut the batting the exact same size as the quilt top…but in these pictures using this method was an afterthought. Believe me though…it’s much much easier to start with the batting the same size as the quilt top!
2. Quilt like normal…except make sure none of your stitches go into the batting. Start and stop all of your quilting stitches on the quilt top and backstitch.
3. Carefully cut the batting away (if it was a bit larger than the quilt top). This is tricky if you’ve quilted to the edge…which is why I recommend keeping your batting the exact same size as your quilt top before you start. I’ve cut through many backings by accident doing this!
…and then in half again, and pin. You can do this on your ironing board and press it as you go…it makes it very simple. Fold all the way down to the next edge.
…and in half again to make a nice mitered corner. Pin it in place. You might have to play with the corner a bit, but once you actually do this it will make sense.
Continue until you’ve folded and pinned the binding around the whole quilt.
7. Sew it down using a walking foot, right along the edge of the binding. Sew to the corner and leave the needle in the fabric as you lift the presser foot and turn to go down the next edge. Easy as pie.
Now there are a couple of reasons I don’t love this method:
1. It’s hard to square up the quilt and keep the edges nice and straight. So I only use this on small things.
2. You have to plan so your backing fabric will also look great as your binding fabric.
3. If you quilt to the edge of your quilt top…you’re going to see it in the binding of the quilt on the back. I normally wouldn’t quilt to the edge using this method and instead quilt 1” away from the edge or so…but it was an afterthought with this little quilt.
And there you go…an easy way to do bindings! If you’re a beginner who is mastering bindings…here’s my other tutorial on a Machine Binding a quilt.
