How to Sew a Quilt Binding

This summer my sisters and I spent a weekend at my mom's house with NO kids. It was a lot of fun to be able to talk and do projects without the kids interrupting. One of the things we did was to make some table runners. This is one that I made. I also made a spring one. I love the 3-D aspect of it.

We went through my mom's stash of leftover scraps. I found all these different colors of pillow ticking. I think my sister's thought I was crazy, but I really like how it ended up. The white blocks are canvas and the brown fabric between the blocks and around the edges is scraps from a backpack my mom made me when I was first starting school. I can't believe she still had it all these years later.

Today I'm going to show you how to do a quilt binding. 

 

 My mom showed me and I hope I remember it all correctly.

Step 1: Cut strips of fabric 2 1/2" wide. How many strips you need will depend on the size of your project. For this table runner I think I used 3 strips. Sew the short ends together to make one really long strip. Press it in half lengthwise.

Step 2: Using a 1/4" seam allowance, and starting somewhere in the middle of your quilt {Not at the corner} sew the binding to the quilt. See where my mom is pointing? That's where you want to start sewing, so you have room to finish it.  Stop sewing 1/4" from the edge.

Step 3: Fold the fabric down using a 45 degree angle as shown above.

Step 4: Fold fabric back so the edge is square with the quilt. See picture. Then sew until you get 1/4" from the next corner.

Step 5:  Repeat around all the corners until you are almost back to where you started. Trim your binding so there is a few inches excess. Fold under the edge and place it outside of the beginning of your binding.

Step 6: Sew in place.

Once you have completed these steps and have done your quilting, you can fold your binding around to the back of the quilt and then hand sew it in place.  You can follow my how to bind a blanket tutorial starting at step 4 to see how I hand sew the binding.

I just made a fun fall table runner. I just need to add a few finishing touches and I'll be sharing it later this week, with a tutorial to make your own.


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