Tuesday’s Tip August 10,2010

Here are a couple of tips to help you make a nice straight binding.  I know that many of you may do this but this is for those who are new to making a straight grain binding.

I cut my strips at 2 1/2” because I I attach the whole binding by machine.  No handwork for me! (OK-not totally true-some times I sew the binding to the back by hand-but not very often).

I used to think that I was saving fabric by butting my edges together exactly. (See below) But I think that is why my seams were never straight.

Now I use my cutting board and start like this:

By overlapping a bit, I find it is easier to visualize a start point and stop point for my drawn line.

I use my little ruler to mark my sewing line; the bias marking on the ruler is lined up at the bottom so I know I have a true 45 degree angle. Mark your sewing line.

 

(blurry-sorry)

OK-this is important. Check to make sure the line you drew is going the right way.  There is nothing worse that sewing 10 binding strips together the wrong way.

Sew the seam.

 

Trim the seam to 1/4” and trim the dog ears (the picture below shows one dog ear cut off)

And you are done! A nice straight binding.

Next week I will show you how I do the whole binding by machine.