Edit: Diana Wilson commented that she had a few misses too and she thought her misses may have been due to:
1. The binding not having been folded perfectly so that in some places it was narrower or wider than in other places;
2. When she originally sewed the binding onto the quilt, her seam allowance may not have been perfect (or close to perfect) all the way around.
It stands to reason that if your seam allowances are wider in some places or your binding is narrower in some places, you’re going to have a problem with catching binding when stitching in the ditch.
For those who have tried the binding and are missing sections while stitching . . the misses are caused by one of several things:
1. Maybe you’re not pinning closely enough and the binding fabric is moving out of the way before you stitch it. I have my pins no farther apart that 3/4″ probably (I haven’t measured).
2. You’re not folding enough of the binding fabric past the original stitching line. When you’re done stitching, are there places where there’s more fabric and less fabric .. so that the stitching on the back side of the binding isn’t equal from the edge all the way? You may have to experiment with the size of your binding strips and your seam allowance to get it right. Cutting the 2-1/2″ strips, sewing 3/8″ seam allowance and not trimming works perfectly for me . . look at it like this to see what will work for you.
- My strips are cut 2-1/2″
- Folded in half makes my binding strip 1-1/4″.
- taking up a 3/8″ seam allowance means the remaining width of my binding is 7/8″.
- I’m wanting to cover that 3/8″ seam allowance so by the time I leave 3/8″ on the back side, fold over 3/8″ to the front, that’s 6/8″ (or 3/4″) which leaves an extra 1/8″ for folding past that seam line to grab with my stitching.
If you want to use a different width binding strip and/or seam allowance . . do the math and get the perfect width for your own use.
If you’re consistently stitching right in the ditch, I don’t think it’s a speed issue. If I go too fast, I wobble out of the ditch and either catch the binding or sew out into the quilt more than I want so going very slowly helps me stay in the ditch but that isn’t going to make a lot of difference in whether I catch the back of the binding or not . . unless I’m wobbling out of the ditch.
Keep trying . . you can do it!
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
One of those would be me,LOL! I think I need to pin more,as you suggested. I am definately going to try again on my next one! Thank you!
I use this method quite a bit, but I do it from the other side. So today I’m trying sewing the binding on to the top… and top stitching from the top. I agree. Frequent pinning will help keep things in place while you stitch. I’ve been using 2.25″ binding, but I do find it tight… but I like narrow binding. I like the plain stitching on most things rather than the blanket stitch which alot of people tend to use. That stitch takes fooorrrreverrrrrr!!!
When in a super hurry, i cut my bindings 3 inches, for a bit extra – no misses. You may not like the “piping” effect that this gives, but done is done…
I “think” I discovered another reason I was having trouble with the skipping–I was taught to trim my backing and batting 1/4 ” away from the edge of the quilt-then that makes the binding fuller-I’ve always done that, but also have always hand stitched the binding and never had trouble. So besides the pinning and too much left on the backing/batting-I think I’ll probably might have it whipped. Thanks Judy. Hugs, Bobbie
Although I typically machine stitch my binding, it could look better. I used several of your hints — specifically pinning close together and the direction of the pins — and by golly, there were no spaces on the back which didn’t get caught. Not to mention I didn’t get stuck by pins like I usually do! This evening I’ll post pictures on my blog. Thanks so much!
Judy! Judy! Judy! You are amazing! You’ve gotten me to do what I haven’t successfully done before! I just put on and finished a binding on a lap quilt in about 45 minutes!! Sure beats the hours I spend on hand finishing! Granted, I’ll still want to do my hand binding on special quilts, but some are just crying out for this method! Beats the heck out of the “glue” method, at least for me! Thanks again for your great instructions!
This is a lifesaver! I’ve tried sooooo many times to machine bind – even bought one of those expensive gadgets – but always had lots of misses. What really hit home for me was when you stated that NO method of binding was fast. Other methods made it look like you just lined up a certain way and zipped through. I just bound a quilt using your method and it turned out GREAT!!!!! I had one miss – and it was where I didn’t pin close enough. I used 2 1/4″ binding. I’ll use this forever after. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing!