Binding Tip for a Quick Finish

More and more on the wall hangings or samples for my trunk shows I'm sewing the binding to the front as usual, wrapping it over to the back and gluing it down, and then stitching in the ditch from the front to secure it. Only special quilts are getting hand bound at this point. Stitching in the ditch from the front to finish your binding requires finding a way to secure the binding on the back to hold it in place until it is stitched from the front. Several quilters have shared various techniques or even sewing the binding to the back and wrapping it around to the front to stitch down, sometimes with decorative stitches. I've taken what I like to create a technique that works for me.

My preferred way is to still sew the binding to the front, then use either a glue stick or my Roxanne's Glue Baste-It squeeze bottle to run a bead of glue along the stitching line on the back and then wrap the binding over and set it with a hot iron. It works like a charm!

On this Sashiko FMQ sampler, I will be hand stitching the binding, but I still did the glue technique so I could be sure the binding was even and secure before taking needle and thread to it. I find I can get much better mitered corners this way and my machine stitching from the front always catches the binding as I make sure the binding is slightly overlapped beyond the stitching line that attached the binding to the front. A piped satin flange was added to this sampler, increasing the layers, so I tried to take extra care with it. After the binding is hand sewn, the hanging sleeve will be hand stitched on and the quilted wall hanging will be blocked. 

I love the Roxanne's Glue Baste-It squeeze bottle. Unlike many of our "use it and throw it" supplies, this little bottle is refillable.You can purchase refills of Roxanne's glue or you can do what I do and refill with original white Elmer's Glue.

The white cap that the pink piece is screwed into actually comes out. I use a small pair of pliers to get it loose and re-secure it once the bottle was refilled. It's so easy to hold this little bottle in your hand, squeeze just the right amount out of that small tip, and fold the fabric with my other hand. Finding the right tool that works for you is amazing!

This is the same glue applicator I use when making applique pieces that need to be secured to their templates. For the petals of the Dresden Hearts I glued the templates cut out of Ricky Tims' Stable Stuff Poly, a leave-in stabilizer that washes away, directly to the wrong side of the fabric, and then glued the folded tops of the fabric to the stabilizer to hold them in place until sewn. 

There are many times a dot of glue is helpful and the Roxanne's Glue Baste-It squeeze bottle is what works best for me. 

More snippets from the sewing room soon,

Liz