How do I join the Ends!?!
1. First, determine the unfolded width of your binding strip. In my case it is 2 1/2″ .
2. Overlap the ends of your binding strips and trim the ends so that they overlap by the same amount as the width of your strip. Here they are overlapped 2 1/2″. Do your trimming so you are still working in the middle of your unfinished area. This just makes it easier to handle under the machine.
3. Now, lay the ends of your binding strips face to face at a right angle, and pin securely. Draw a line from corner to corner (using the corners that connect to the binding, not the outer and inner corners). If you sew the wrong corners, don’t worry, it will not look right and you can just pick out and try again. If the quilt is toward you, this should look like a little mountain top.
4. Sew along this line, remove your pins and open it up to make sure its right. If it looks good, go ahead and trim your excess off, leaving a 1/4″ seam. Finger press the seam open and re-fold your binding in half.
5. Pin the binding in place and start sewing a few stitches on top of where you left off and over top of where you started, to make sure there are no gaps. Yay! You made it all the way around:)
Check in next week for Part 3 – Are we done Yet? Finishing your Binding by Machine
Someone was trying to explain this type of connection the other day and I just couldn’t for the life of me understand what the heck she was saying! The pictures help a lot. Thanks a ton for writing the post!
No problem, glad you liked it!
That’s how I do it, except I use the trimmed off pieces as my measuring tool, as they would already be 2.5 inches wide. Great tutorial! Thank you!
Great idea! Thanks Mike.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve bookmarked this for future reference.
Your welcome, Daphne! Glad you liked it.
Used this technique today on UFO#2. Worked like a charm! Thanks for sharing!