Monday's mentionings

Bindings............how to do them........this is my way.  I have done this for the past few years after struggling with it for a very long time.
I took a beginner's sampler class and that was fine -- up to a point!  We got as far as sandwiching the quilt and then left on our own.  I read and read books and then it said something about a 45* angle for the corner.  What?  I called in my husband who helped me out because he is so much better at that stuff than I am. 
I'm not saying this is the right way.  As a matter of fact if you were entering competitions it probably wouldn't be.  Its too wide for that.  I don't know of a written law by the quilt police that tells you what size the binding should be.  Having yaddered on about that I cut all my bindings 2 1/2"...............all of them!!!!  Don't care what size the quilt, that's what I cut.  I can always pull more to the back if I want to.  I don't, but I could.

Okay here we go.

I figure that each length of fabric will be 40".....that number is easy to work with.  I measure the sides and the top and bottom.  If the one side is 80 the other side will be 80 (well, it should be).  The top and bottom each measure 68.  The two 80 sides add up to 160 which means I will need 4 strips for each of them.........the top and bottom I round up to 80 so that means another 4 cuts.  That will give me 8 strips of binding cut 2 1/2", therefore I need 20" of fabric or .51 metres.  I like to have more strips than are necessary.  I hate to add one more when I'm nearly at the end.  Its a pain in the neck. 

After I have cut the binding strips, I lay all the strips on my ironing board, right side up.  I then take one strip and lay it on top of the next strip so that right sides are together.

So that you can follow along with these next few steps, I've placed a yellow headed pin in the corner.

These two strips are now ready.  I do the same every time I join one strip to the other.

The corner where the pin is will come down to the left.  Give this corner a little spritz of spray starch.

Once you have it folded and you are happy with the results, give it a good press with your steam iron.

It will look like this when you are done.  This will become your stitching line.  Pin it securely and continue on with the rest of the binding.  Stitch it down using a small stitch length.....I use a 2.0. 

When all the binding strips are sewn together, head to the cutting board.  You now have to trim off the excess fabric.  Lay your ruler with the 1/4" line on the stitching.  Trim off the excess and head over to the ironing board.

You should now press the binding in half with wrong sides together.  I give them a shot of spray stach and then press them together.  It doesn't matter what brand you buy.  I've tried the most expensive and the cheapest.  They work the same.
The spray starch will act like a temporary "glue" and the strips will hold together while you sew them onto your quilt.

Tomorrow I'll focus on sewing the strips onto the quilt.  That dreaded corner made easy and how to finish it off.  It took me years to find this.  I tried a lot of ways, but this one works for the best for me.