Most quilters love or hate hand sewing the binding a quilt. I am one of those who absolutely love it! Nothing makes me happier than binding on the couch with a cup of coffee and a good movie. I admit that hand sewing can be a tedious task, but there are a few tricks that can make it go a bit easier.
The raw edges of the unfinished quilt are rather thick, aren’t they? The quilt top, batting and backing are layered, and the edges are squeezed together inside of the binding fabric. This can make hand sewing very difficult.
Here’s how to hand sew it:
Step 1:
Begin by sewing the binding to the front of the quilt in the usual manner. Once that is finished, change your machine stitch to a long, wide zigzag. The settings I use can be seen in the photo above.
Step 2:
Zigzag stitch down each side of the quilt, backstitching at the beginning and end of each side. Do not stitch over the folded corners.
Step 3:
Snip extra threads and check out your finished edges. See how tidy they are? Now they are much easier to work with! From here I like to use my iron to press the binding away from the quilt top, fold it over the raw edge, and then hold in place using Clover Wonder Clips. Now the binding is ready to be be easily sewn down by hand.
Share tips, start a discussion or ask one of our experts or other students a question.
No Responses to “Hand Sewn Binding: Make It a Little Easier”