Binding Tips

For most of my quilts, I use a 3/8″ finished binding. Here are my tips and notes to myself about my binding process, which gives me a place to start when it’s time to bind a quilt. I do, however, make adjustments along the way, based on trial and error and experience, because no two quilts are the same when it comes to binding, I’ve found, even with the same batting inside each time. Painful, but true. I base my measurements on the fact that for most quilts, I use either Hobbs PolyDown or Hobbs Tuscany Wool batting, which have about the same loft.

Cut strips 2 3/8″ (3/8″ (.375″) x 6 + 1/8″ for “fudge-factor and batting puffiness”)
Use Pfaff #0A foot
Dual feed on!
Stitch #1 on machine (straight stitch)
Stitch length: 3.0
Guide edge of quilt along edge of foot
Needle position: 5.0 (adjust as necessary after stitching for 2-3″ and checking binding edge position by flipping the binding to the back)
Miter one corner, then check to see that it’s square, with enough fabric folded in, but not too much. This amount is highly variable, depending on the thickness of the batting! If the first corner isn’t right, fix it!
Use the first corner as a guide for mitering the rest of the corners.