News from the Nest: Binding...Binding....Binding....and more Binding....

I've been pretty busy lately getting some of my tops quilted at my local longarm rental place.

On New Years Eve I quilted for 6 hours and got 3 large tops and one medium size quilt finished.

Of course I then needed to do the binding. Luckily, I have a great way to do the hand sewing part of the binding. I've found that I can do in a couple hours what used to take a lot longer.

I thought I'd share it with my quilter friends out there in blogging land.

Using the Ladder Stitch for Binding

The ladder stitch is usually used in knitting when you want to join seams, but is perfect for the hand sewing portion of binding. It’s fast and almost invisible.
No need to use “clips” or pins to hold your binding as you sew.
Strong thread, such as quilting weight thread is recommended to avoid thread snapping in the middle of the process.

Here’s how:
Knot your thread and start by “burying” it in the layers that will be covered up by the binding. The needle should come out of the fabric just above your machine stitching line.
Fold your binding over and take a small running stitch in the binding between the layers. (the only thread that should be showing is the “ladder” rung)
Then take the needle and insert it directly across from where your thread comes out and take a stitch parallel, and close to the machine stitching line. Your stitches will be loose at this point.
Repeat as shown along the length of the binding until you have about ¾ - 1” of “ladders” and then “draw up” or pull on thread to tighten binding against the quilt.
Just keep going and you will be finished in record time, with perfect binding!

Sometimes if I’m having trouble seeing the thread, I will use a lighter or contrasting thread.
It doesn’t matter because it’s going to be invisible anyway. (As long as you pull up your
stitches properly.)

I think you will find that doing the binding on your quilts will be TREAT!
You’ll even look forward to it!!

HAPPY BINDING!!!!!

Now I'm going to switch from being a quilter to being a Grandma! Here is my latest picture of my sweet little Kellen. What a little cutie!!!