Finishing and Labeling your Quilts

Finished quilt with green binding edge

incomplete quilt note the batting (and back material) sticking out on the sides

I have narrowed down the 4 quilts I have ongoing in various stages to 3 now. Yup, I finished one of them yesterday! I finished the first birthday quilt for a very adorable little girl whose birthday is fast approaching. It's one of the sawtooth star quilts that I mentioned in my earlier blog (march 27..."Right Now").

I guess I could add a new up dated photo here! LOL! Oh, there it is, at the top now! (Wish I could figure out how to put the photos in the middle of the posts or at the end, instead of always at the top...)

After you have chopped the excess batting material and backing fabric off (cut it even with the edge of your quilt top), you need to measure your quilt to make sure it is straight. Measure it across the top and the bottom and also across the middle in 2 places. Are the measurements the same? If not then use your ruler and cutting wheel to trim the sides a tiny bit. Make sure you trim a little off both sides so the border stays relatively even. Then measure it again. Turn the quilt sideways and measure it again the same way, trimming a bit off the side edges if necessary. If it's less than 1/4 inch difference, I'm satisfied. (No, I'm not a perfectionist... if you are, then good luck to you!)

Now comes the job of making your long binding strips. Some patterns say to cut 2 inch strips , but I find that 2 1/4 inch strips work best, (about 6 cm for you people who think in metric.)

How many do you need, you might be wondering?

Measure your quilt perimeter, (all around the outside). Then add 8 inches or 20 cm, (2 inches to turn at each corner) and then add about 6 inches more (15 cm) as you will be overlapping the binding at the end somewhat. That's how long of a binding strip you need to make!

Sew the binding strips all together in a long, long snake. There are 2 methods that I know of to sew them together, but at this point, just put right sides together and make the usual 1/4 inch seam. Now heat up your iron and get out your ironing board!

Press the narrow strip in half lengthwise with wrong sides together. (Now your long, long strip is only 1 and 1/8 inch wide.) Pin the strip along one edge of your quilt with the raw edges of the strip pointing out, even with the raw edge of the quilt. Don't start pinning the strip at the corner, though. Start about halfway down the first side. (You'll see why when you get all the way around.)

Start sewing the binding about 3 inches down from the top of the binding strip (not at the start). Make a couple of back stitches and then sew the strip to the side with 'scant' 1/4 seam (a little less) till you get within 1/4 inch from the corner, then back stitch and stop, cutting your thread. Remove the quilt from the machine. Now comes the tricky corner.

Fold your binding strip straight up away from the quilt at a 45 degree angle. Then fold it back down along the next side to be stitched. You have created a little fold at the corner.

Now pin the binding to the next side and sew it the same way, to within 1/4 inch of the corner, then back stitch a couple stitches and stop. Do the diagonal fold at the corner again and keep going. When you get close to where you started, overlap the binding about 2 inches over the beginning. Cut the excess binding off. Then fold the raw end of the binding under itself so no raw edge is showing, and back stitch a couple stitches.

There! You're almost done. Now comes the part that some people dislike.

After turning the binding over the raw edges of the quilt, you need to pin it and hand stitch it to the other side! Yes, I said "hand stitch". Some books will tell you to sew the whole thing on by machine so you could do that if you get lazy, but your beautiful quilt deserves the best so why 'go cheap' now? But that's entirely up to you. No quilt ghosts will come to haunt you or anything. It's your quilt so you can do whatever you want!!!

Once you have the binding edge on your quilt it looks different than it did before when the excess binding and back fabric were still hanging on. You will feel so proud of your beautiful new quilt!!!

There's one very last thing to do, though. You need to put a label on your quilt with your name and the date on any corner at the back of your quilt. You can also put the name of the person you are giving it to and the name of the pattern if you want, but like I said, it's your quilt, so do whatever your little heart desires!

I find it easiest to make a label out of a rectangle of leftover fabric. Iron the raw edges in with 1/4 inch seams, then I sew the seam with the machine. Next you need something to write with that won't fade or run when the quilt gets washed. Buy a fabric pen, whatever color you think will look good on your label. Now hand stitch your label to the back bottom corner of your quilt and then you are REALLY done!!!

Now, if you're anything like me, you're already planning your next quilt project, or if you're really "gung ho", you will already have started a new project! Most quilters have a few projects going on at the same time at various stages of completion.

Welcome to the ranks of obsessed quilters! :D