The Making of a Mini Quilt, Part Three (the binding)

At times I get questions on how I bind my mini quilts. Recently I've had a few, so I decided to post my method. In no way do I think this is the only (or even the best) way to bind a mini quilt, but it is what works for me. Most of it I have learned through trial and error (lots of both), but now and then I have received a tip from another quilter that has proved very helpful. I wish I could remember what I learned from whom so I could give credit here.
Talk about TMI! This is lengthy--not for the faint of heart. And it won't be of interest to a good share of you, so you might want to come back another day, or wait until the book comes out. (jk--there is no book)
I took photos as I bound this quilt, and will take you step-by-step through the process.

Question #1. Do I use double or single fold binding, and how wide do I cut it?
Single fold, definitely! Double fold is bulk you do not need for a quilt that will be decorative on a wall or table top. True miniature quilt makers (of which I am not one) want to make their quilts to scale, so that if you saw a photo of them you would not be able to tell it isn't a full size quilt. If you bind the mini the same way you do a bed quilt, the larger scale binding is a dead giveaway. Though I am not a "purist" mini maker, I do like to keep the binding on my minis as slim as I can so that it seems to "fit" the smaller size quilt.
I cut my binding anywhere from 1" to 1 1/8". Wide variance, I know. :) A 1" wide binding is applied if I have used an extremely thin batting, or just a layer of flannel. Most of the time I am cutting somewhere in between. I am very aware that there isn't a 1 1/16" marking on rulers. But if you use the Itty Bitty Eights ruler to cut your binding (the 5x15" is my favorite for this task), you can line the fabric up between the "dashed" lines that are 1/8" apart (shown on the left), and be pretty accurate.














Whatever method you use to cut your binding, I like my binding strips to have the diagonal cut on the ends. Of course, you can cut and join your binding whatever way you prefer. This is my preference--it leaves less bulk in one place in the finished binding.

 I join my pieces, trim off the dog ears, and press the seams open--again, to reduce bulk.

Make sure you have a length of binding that will go around the perimeter of your quilt with folds at the corners, and a few inches overlap at the end.



Before I quilt a mini I always mark the top with a line that is 1/4" from the edge. This keeps my quilting within the border of the binding, rather than running under it. But when I get ready to trim the top after quilting, I don't just trim to that edge. Quilting can gather a quilt in a bit, more so in some places than others. I square up the quilt as best I can, and if that means that I cut 1/8" from the edge of the top in places, so be it. Once it is bound, that won't show, and it keeps the edges of the quilt straight.

Question #2. What seam allowance do I use when I attach my binding to the front of the quilt?

In keeping with the effort to make a slim binding, I sew with a "scant" 1/4" seam allowance. If I were to use a larger seam allowance, I would need to cut a wider binding.  I know some folks don't like the term "scant" in relation to seams, but it works for me here. I know where to place my fabric edge to get a 1/4" seam on my machine. For a scant seam allowance I move the quilt over just a thread or two toward the left.                                                    

 You can see in the photo above that the fabric comes just to the inside line of the 1/4" mark on the ruler. That is my definition of "scant".

Before I begin to attach the binding, I want to make sure that the seams in the binding will not land on any corners. That much bulk in the corner folds makes a nicely flat corner impossible. 

So I place one end of my binding anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down the side of the quilt and, folding the binding at the corner as it will be when I am attaching it, I continue on around the quilt in this way to see if the seams will hit a corner. If that happens, I adjust the starting point up or down as needed, and try again. 

 

When I am satisfied that no seams in the binding will get caught in the corner folds, I place a pin in my starting point and begin stitching 2-3" away from the end. I like to back tack where I begin.

Question #3: How do I stitch my corners?

I continue stitching my scant 1/4" seam until I am close to a corner.

Whatever measurement you are using for the seam allowance, that is the measurement you use to decide how far from the end you stop stitching. If needed, measure before you get to the end and place a pin, or make a mark at the spot where your stitching should stop. Stop at that spot with the needle down.

 

Now lift your presser foot and with the needle holding your place in the fabric, pivot the quilt so that the corner is pointing toward you.

Put the presser foot back down and stitch right off the corner. It should look like this. 

Remove from machine and clip threads.

Now you want to fold the unattached part of the binding up and away from the quilt to form a right angle, making sure the edge of the quilt you will be stitching to next, and the unattached edge of the binding form a straight line with each other. Finger press the fold.

Keeping the diagonal fold in place, bring the binding back down along the second edge of the quilt, folding it exactly in line with the first edge of the quilt. The arrows show the two folds you should now have at the corner. Edges should be lined up so that there are no overlaps or edges peeking out.

It shouldn't look like this..........................................or this...

...or even this.

When you have that corner under control, put a pin in it.

You will begin stitching right at the edge of the fabric, with the scant 1/4" seam and go down to the next corner and do it all over again.

I actually start my stitching just off the fabric so that the entire corner gets a good stitching down.

Once you have gone around all four corners, and are back to side #1, make sure you stop stitching that binding down about four inches before the spot where you started. I back tack at the stopping point, just like I did at the starting point.

Now I trim off the pointed edge from the starting end of my binding. Fold it down and cut along the fold line.

There are many gadgets and methods you can use to attach the edges of the binding. This is the one I currently employ. However wide you have cut your binding is the measurement to use for the overlap of the edges. Since I cut my binding 1 1/16", I need that same amount of overlap between the start and end of my binding.

I let the beginning edge I just trimmed off straight, peek ever so slightly out from beneath the tail end of the binding. That beginning edge is where I place the mark for how wide I cut my binding on my little ruler gauge (that I think I have had since 7th grade). The excess of the tail of the binding is laying to the left of the ruler. 

Next I bring that tail from the left, and fold it back over toward the right, over the ruler.

Remove the ruler and finger press the fold.

Trim off the excess tail along the fold line.

 

Wow, I'm tired, aren't you? This has been way too long, and we aren't finished yet. But at this point the edges of your quilt should look like this.

All but the tail ends of the binding are stitched down, and those tails are trimmed to just the right length for attaching. So let's do it.

Take those dangling tails and match them up right sides together, as if you were doing a diagonal seam on the binding. 

 

I find that folding the quilt in half and securing it with a strong pin makes it easier to work with the finish on the binding.

Put a pin in the ends of the binding, diagonally, just where you will be stitching.

Sometimes it is tricky to see the starting point, because the top layer hides where the bottom layer corner is, so I may mark that before I stitch. Stitch where the dashed line is. Don't make the mistake of stitching from side to side.

When it is stitched, don't trim it just yet. Make sure it lays well on the quilt surface, and that if there is any excess, it isn't more than you can ease in as you stitch it down.

Now you can trim and press the seam open, and finish stitching those last few inches onto the quilt.

Question #4: How do I do the final fold on the corners?

 Once I am at this point, to aid me in the folding over of the narrow binding, I may take the iron and press the binding away from the quilt on the front side. This trains it a bit in the direction I need it to go.

With the quilt laying face down, I start in the middle of a side and begin folding the binding over and PINNING it into place. I emphasize pinning, because for me the clips aren't as effective with such precise work. You may find otherwise. I use fine pins to avoid distortion as much as possible. Don't pin all the way through to the front of the quilt, just catch the back and some batting--also helps avoid distortion.

 I continue folding and pinning, working my way toward a corner. When I am within 1-2 inches of the corner, I stop.

 

Then I go around the corner, starting in the middle again, and working toward the same corner I had just approached from the other side.

When I get about 2 inches from the corner from this direction I stop.

Next I fold that corner fabric down in, just as I have been as I have gone along the sides.

This is the critical part. If you have done everything else well (sometimes I do and sometimes I don't), then this should work fine.

Look at the front side of the corner.

You can see that there is an obvious direction in which the fold is made. You want the fold on the back to be from the opposite direction. So using the method I show here, the fold on the front will end up coming from the left, when you are looking at the front of the quilt. That means that on the back, you want the final fold to come from the right. So I need to fold down the left side of the corner FIRST, so that the FINAL fold will be coming from the right. Make sense?

So I fold down the left side. Now, what you do here can make or break the finesse of your corner. When I try to fold in the right side, the left side will often shift and make a sloppy corner. So I take a strong pin--not the fine ones I have been using to pin the binding in place, and not a stiletto (too bulky). I place that pin along the final fold line and hold that left fold in place while I make the right fold.

Then I pin that corner down, being careful to catch the fold at the corner to hold it all in place. If it shifts a thread or two as I pin, I can correct that when I come around and stitch.

When one corner is finished, I move to the middle of another side of the quilt and start pinning my way toward another unfinished corner, until all sides and corners are pinned.

It should now look something like this.

You can see that I do the folded corner labels. I pin it in place before I start attaching my binding to the front, and it magically is attached as you sew the binding down.

Question #5: What stitch do I use on my binding?

I consider myself one of the world's slowest binders. I have tried different stitches, and tools, and I have finally settled on the ladder stitch (if you want more info on the stitch, search for a YouTube video. That is how I learned it) and a milliner's needle. The ladder stitch is very invisible and it allows me to load more than one stitch on my needle at a time. The milliner's needle is slender and long. It glides through the fabric easily, making stitching more effortless. Both of those have combined to improve my binding speed, but I still wouldn't win any races!

I usually start by removing a pin right by the corner of the sewn in label. I put my needle in where the knot will be hidden by the binding, and come up by the label, taking a couple of stitches. It is usually harder to stitch through the label, so I start here to get it over with.

There is not much to show, other than when I come to a corner, so lets jump to a corner.

I've let the stitches loose so you can see better what I am doing. I make sure that when I get to the corner, my needle first goes into the backing (or label here), then it picks up the tip of the bottom side fold, before coming up in the tip of the top side fold. Notice how the stitches, when pulled tight, will bring the binding to cover the line of machine stitching from attaching the binding.

Now I continue that same type of ladder stitch as I stitch to the point.

I know not everyone stitches the corners of their binding down, but I like how crisp the corners are when I do.

The final stitch at the tip will catch the top of the corner and go through to the other side...

...where you want to catch the top of the fold and come all the way through to the front.

Ladder stitch your way down the front fold until you come to the right angle of the binding.

I put my needle right into the corner, and come up again on the back side, catching the fold of the left hand side where I will begin stitching the binding down.

Continue around, repeating this at each corner, until your binding is completed!

Question #6: Final question (whew!!) Is your binding wider on the back than on the front?

Yep, it has to be in order to cover the stitching line of the machine. But mine isn't bigger by much. It is a snug binding, and doesn't give a bulky look, whether viewing the front or back.

This is the longest, most boring post I have ever written (well, maybe some of you would argue that I have been even more boring at times). But it is over now. If anyone is still reading, let me know. I'm choosing a name to receive a pack of my herbal soap, so you can go relax in a warm bath after this ordeal.

Until next time--which won't be anywhere as long, I promise!!

Janet O.

In case you are wondering why this is "Part 3", you will find "Part 1" here, and "Part 2" here.

 

Final small quilt swap of 2017

Yep, you read that right--I said 2017. So what, if it happened in January 2018?
Early last year I had set up 4 swaps with blog friends, and Julie and I would be ending the year with a November swap. For a variety of reasons, we each needed to extend the deadline, more than once. This week it finally happened. Look at this beauty that arrived at my house!

Can you believe it? Those little 9-patches are only 1 1/2" finished! And it is hand quilted, to boot! Here is a glamor shot.

Julie has made an entire big quilt out of those tiny blocks! What was she thinking? LOL You can find the pattern for it on her website, here.
I'm thinking I am pretty lucky to have this sweet thing. Take a peek at the gorgeous backing fabric.

There were some other goodies in the package, too.
There were Deb Strain note cards, and one of those wonderful spray bottles that you are going to want, if you don't already. I just purchased one at retreat last month for water. Now I have one for my Best Press, as well! You can find them on Julie's website.
Thank you, Julie for a marvelous swap!



And what did I send to Julie? This mini feathered star went to her house this week. The star finishes at 5 1/2". I can't recall for sure, but I think the whole thing is around 12" square.

Here is the glamor shot for this little thing.



This was made with a foundation piecing pattern designed by Cindi Edgerton. The pattern was sent to me by my sweet friend, Annie M., and I have been wanting to try it for some time.







I knew her patterns were printed on tissue paper, and I was interested to see how well it worked. I have to say that it didn't work well for me. The tissue paper wasn't stable enough for the precision I was seeking. So I copied the pattern onto sheets of newsprint. It is solid enough to be stable, but easy enough to tear away when you are finished. I bought a pack of 500 sheets on Amazon 4 years ago, and I don't think I am even halfway through it. Very reasonably priced. You can find it here.

You can see to the right how wrinkled the tissue paper pattern was after pressing--and I didn't even use steam. You can also see how flat the newsprint paper foundation is after stitching and pressing it. I ended up having to draw a foundation for the border I wanted, and copied it onto the same newsprint.

 Got the top completed November 8, 2017, and ditch stitched it soon afterward, but the rest of the quilting didn't happen until this week. Just couldn't decide how to quilt it.

I tried a new-to-me thread for some of this project, which I will report on later. This is too long already. Also, I took photos of the binding process to answer some questions I have received over the years about binding minis. That tutorial will be coming up.

Thanks, again, Julie, for such a great swap.  I am thrilled with my little 9-patch quilt!

Until next time, 
Janet O.


It was cloudy here when the eclipse of the super moon occurred, but the evening before, I caught the moon coming up over the mountains.

In the forest with Sasquatch

The trees are all completed. I really messed around with them. The pattern has them all in one fabric, and all the same size. My Sasquatch is playing in a forest of multi-colored trees of different heights. Final placement is still in question.

There are some trees all in one fabric, but no two trees are the same. Now I need to sash them, assemble the top, and decide if I want to make it larger with some borders.
There are actually a couple of places where the raindrops are upside down, but those raindrops will just keep defying gravity. I am not changing them! It would not be a simple fix, and I think no one will notice, without me telling them, like I just did. Can you see them? :)

The snowman mini is all hand quilted, and the border was ditch stitched by machine. I may try to bind it on Monday. I am thinking about doing a post about how I bind minis. I've had questions about it a few times. I don't know all the answers. I just know what works for me.

Thanks again, Karen, for letting me work with some of your blocks. Such a delight!

I completed one more block for Settler's Puzzle, but I will wait for a little more progress there before sharing it again.
That is the extent of my quilting this past week, other than the swap quilt I still can't share.
And while it has been frosty outside, like this...

Hoarfrost on an icicle hanging on my deck railing.

...inside it has been full of blooming orchids, like this! This is the window above my kitchen sink.

I have been rather obsessed with these beauties the past year or two, but I have never had 10 blooming all at the same time before (the ledge wasn't big enough for the 10th one, so it is sitting below, but you can see the flowers)--and I wouldn't have that now if I could resist bringing a new one home every few weeks! I don't "buy hyacinths to feed [my] soul". I buy orchids. They make me happy!

Besides quilting, what is making you smile today?
Until next time,
Janet O.
 

Jumping from project to project.

Since making concentrated progress on many different projects at retreat, it has been hard to come back to reality and have no sewing time for several days. I made up for it this weekend, but struggled to know where to focus. So I jumped around!

First off, I sewed over half of the rows of this quilt on my design wall.

The empty corners are due to operator error. I miscalculated when I cut the setting and corner triangles and had to redo them. Haven't cut the new corners yet. I had purchased plenty of the fabric for them, just in case. Good thing!
Who knows, maybe next blog post will have a finished quilt top that isn't a mini! Wouldn't that be a shocker?

I made another row of the little foundation pieced blocks for this Kim Diehl mini.

It has been tricky getting the center points to meet when I sew together the two halves of the foundation for each block. 
Even when I mark the centers with pins and match them, I don't always get a good connection, but I think I am getting the hang of it. I have unpicked and resewn a couple of them, but I am letting the others go. This will get three more rows and then a couple of borders. 
The 2 1/2" square ruler gives you an idea of the block size.


It has probably been a couple of years since Sandi sent me a little Valentine Applique kit. She is trying to convert me to the dark side, I think. :)

I got started on it, and then other things got in the way. When digging for projects to take to retreat, I unearthed this and set it out where I could work on it upon my return. All of the applique is finished, and I added some little flowers and words. Can't decide if I will embellish it more, and then whether to quilt it for a wall hanging, or make a pillow. Even though applique is not my thing, it was fun to put this together.

Saturday evening I started quilted the little snowman block from Karen.

Hoping to have this finished before all of the snowman pillows, mats, and wall hangings get put away at the end of the month. He is so cute.

Finally I got out this wool project that is all prepped for the blanket stitching, but didn't do any stitching on it. This was the one handwork project I took with me to retreat, in case I wanted to relax with it in the evening. But we usually just made it back to our room at night in time to get ready for bed, do a little reading, and crash.

I first saw this on Julie's blog and had to order it. I have mentioned before that I live next door to a bee garden, and DD#2 has always had a thing for bees--also, I live in "The Beehive State". It was a no brainer.

The other project that saw progress is my final mini quilt swap for 2017--yes, I said 2017. I know it is 2018!
Julie and I had a swap lined up for last November. But things got in our way and we agreed to put it off. We have done that a couple of times, but are hoping to actually have our projects completed and swapped in the not-too-distant future.
I have been quilting my quilt for her, and have had a surprising discovery with a new-to-me thread, thanks to Joyce, a blog reader. I will share all about it when this swap is completed.
Until next time, 
Janet O.

Back to Normal...

...normal life, and almost normal computer.
Had a glorious time at retreat, sponsored by Village Dry Goods in Brigham City, UT! I came home with no new UFOs! There were mini classes offered during the three day period, and I was one of only a very few that took none of them! Just kept my focus on the projects I brought, and making progress.

I took a different large UFO to work on each of the three days, and then I had a couple of minis and bonus triangles to use as leader/enders and to fill in the gaps when I got tired of my "big" project.

Day One: I worked on my Scrappy Trips blocks. This is a Bonnie Hunter free pattern, and I started it in January 2013, when it was really making the rounds in social media. A LQS held a free sew day to come and learn how to make it (which you can read about here). I already knew how, but thought it would be fun to participate, so I did.

(I didn't purposely lay it out in the shape of Utah, but thought it was interesting that it ended up that way.)
There were 12 blocks already made when I went to retreat. I made 6 more blocks, and got a start on two more--and I have all the strips cut for more, so I can just sew, sew, sew!



Can't decide how many blocks I will end up making for this quilt. I think I would like 40, but I may not be patient enough to wait another 5 years to see that happen!





When my enthusiasm for Scrappy Trips waned, I pulled out my little paper pieced blocks for the Kim Diehl mini. They really don't take long to make, but I didn't spend much time with them, so I only made 4. They will finish at 2".

Day Two: My "big quilt" focus for this day was the "Legendary" quilt of Sasquatch, by Elizabeth Hartman. I completed the Sasquatch block and the first tree in a class at  a LQS in November. So my goal for retreat was to get all of the flippy corners sewn on the tree sections. Mission accomplished! They went from this..............................................................................to this!






















Day Three:  My main project for this day was a quilt called Settler's Puzzle. It is a Pam Buda design, and I started this at the retreat in 2014, when Pam was the invited teacher.

I only had 2 complete blocks when I arrived, and I went home with 6 finished. The pattern calls for 12, so I am halfway there. Though all of the parts were already cut out, I had to spend a lot of time on this one, getting all of the individual components made. Once that was done, the blocks went together very quickly!




I have the next 3 laid out on design boards--sans the red/gold HSTs. Those are cut, and shouldn't take too long!



This was held at The Academy Conference Center in Brigham City, UT--the same place where I took Bonnie Hunter's classes last summer. Such a lovely venue. This is looking from one end of the room to the other.

Each quilter got a full table to herself, but they pushed 4 tables together so we could visit as we worked.

It is hard to tell from the photo above, but at the end of the room there is a big, wide staircase that takes you down into the luncheon area.

As we descended the stairs for lunch, we joked that we felt we should be wearing ball gowns, tiaras, and glass slippers.

Each day there was some kind of program at lunch. The first two days were trunk shows.
The third day was an author/potter. His wife is a quilter, so some of his pottery caters to us. I picked up this lovely, magnetic pin bowl. I love functional things that are pretty, too!












My retreat buddy (Kim), and I became good friends with our table mates, and look forward to next year, hoping we will meet up again.

Standing L to R: Liz B., myself
Sitting L to R: Kim W., Annette B. (Liz's MIL)
I shared this experience with such wonderful women--kind, thoughtful, funny, sometimes silly, and always willing to go out of their way for you.I'm sure that sounds like most quilters you know.
When I returned home I looked at the blocks I had left up on my design wall during my absence, and I suddenly knew what I wanted to do with them.

All of these blocks came from Karen (karen-logcabinquilter.blogspot.com). They are from two different projects for which she had lost interest. The 5 center blocks were from one project, and the outer stars are from another large bunch of stars that I seem to be parceling out to various projects. I have border fabrics hanging to the side. You can't see it in the photo very well, but each of the fabrics in the sashing, setting triangles, and borders are small prints. I didn't want solids, but I also didn't want to compete with the blocks. I want them to shine. 
Thank you, Karen, for the privilege of working with your lovely blocks!
Enough of my ramblings!
Until next time, 
Janet O.

Ready to hit the road!

My computer became very ill on Saturday and is in the computer hospital. I have tried to post from my tablet, but photos are not uploading. What fun is a post without photos?
I had promised to show the projects I had chosen to take on retreat. So much for my promises!
In deciding what would go with me, I piled the projects that demanded my attention in a corner of my sewing room. There were a dozen. I talked myself down from that ledge and ended up with 6 (I guess it could be 7 if you count the leader/enders I tossed in).
I have packed 3 large quilt projects, 2 minis, and one wool project. I know it is only a 3 day retreat, but I like variety. :)
Maybe when I return at the end of the week I will have my computer once again, and I can share what I actually accomplished.
I hope you all get some time to play with your fabric this week! I know I am looking forward to three days of intensive creative therapy after weeks of almost none.
Until next time,
Janet O.