5 Steps for Successful Quilt Binding

As a quilter there are many challenges you face when designing, sewing and ultimately quilting your finished baby quilt, but it the baby quilt binding, that most quilters struggle with.

Here are a few tips that might help:

1. Choosing the fabric for the baby quilt binding can be one of the most challenging and exciting tasks facing the quilter or one of the most frustrating.  Color choices can indeed determine the overall success of your baby quilt binding because it can either be alive and sparkle with its color or be dull, drab and boring due to the lack of it.
2. Since you might be like most quilters and wish you were wealthy enough to have the complete “stash” that contains every fabric that you ever could want to use, choosing your fabrics carefully is important.  I suggest that you find the colors used in the quilt or the backing and pick up those colors in the binding.  If the baby quilt binding is cut on the cross grain, it will have a diagonal pattern to it.
3. No matter the colors or the design that is chosen, for the baby quilt binding be sure to sew exactly ¼ “ seams Miter the seams when joining the strips and press the seams open. This technique helps to keep the bulk down and gives a unique diagonal design .
4. One yard of fabric will yield about 576 inches of 2 ½ inch wide baby quilt binding if you are cutting on the cross grain.  I like this method since it allow for more durability and it stretches or “gives” as I sew the baby quilt binding around curves.
5. A great way to store unused baby quilt binding is on old paper towel rolls. Save the rolls when the paper towels are gone.  Yes, quilters recycle!  These rolls stack easily in a drawer or on a shelf.  Don’t throw away those short pieces because they will never fit another baby quilt.  Someday, sew all of the pieces together and you will have a wonderfully multi-colored baby quilt binding someday.

It is not SEW complicated!  When you are ready to start your baby quilt binding, just take a glance at your stash before dashing off to your favorite fabric mart.