Easy Strip Quilt Part 5 Trimming and Binding

I have to be honest... this is the part of quilting I HATE. Just not my favorite thing to do. But it has to be done so I do it. :)

After you tie the quilt and are ready to bind it you are almost done!

Lay the quilt out on a flat surface. I use my floor in the family room because its the cleanest and its not carpeted.

You will want to cut off the excess batting and backing.

I use my cutting mat I used to cut the strips. I also use the ruler and rotary blade. I place the mat under the quilt and line the ruler up with the edge of the quilt top. Ideally the quilt is square but that doesn't always happen. The goal is to not have to cut too much off of the quilt top to make it square. Trim up all 4 sides.

Pretty right? Sometimes I wish this was the finished product :)

So here is the binding. I only needed one package for this quilt but I usually buy two just in case there is a mistake or the quilt is a little larger than what is in one package of binding.

You will notice that the binding is not folded even. This is a good thing. The wider side should be on the back of the quilt. It helps when you are sewing the binding on to make sure it stays on the back of the quilt. This stuff is slippery and moves all over the place.

So I measure the binding usually with a measuring tape but I couldn't find one so I used the quilt and a ruler. Just cut the pieces a little longer than the edge of the quilt to allow for the seams. Cut an individual strip for each side of the quilt. Each side will measure a tad different than the others so using one side for all 4 cuts will make it so you either have too much binding for one side or not enough for another.

Here's the technical part. We are going to bind this quilt with diagonal corners. So open up your binding on one end.

Mark it with the ruler and pen. Here I used the ruler I had used to cut the fabric. It has an angle on it. I line the fold in the binding up with the 45* angle. This creates a triangle once the markings are made.

Here's how it will look after you mark it.

Take the end of the next piece of binding for the quilt. Make sure if you mark the right end of the strip of binding that you pair it up for the bottom edge of the next piece of binding to the right of the quilt.

Make sure when you match up the binding you match the wide part of the binding together and the more narrow parts together. You don't want to have the wide side with the narrow side or you will end up with a strip of binding on backwards.

Now you pin it. I use 3 or more pins. Like I said this stuff is silky and moves like crazy! Repeat for all 4 corners. Then take it to the sewing machine. When you move to the next corner though make sure that the binding isn't twisted up cause you will have to take out seams and re-sew it if it is.

I line up the markings with the center of the foot of my sewing machine. Then I sew over it a few times to make sure the seam holds nice and tight.

This is what it should look like when you are done sewing it.

Then I trim off the excess leaving just a little so you don't cut the seam.

Then you can turn the right side out and see your pretty corner. Repeat this step for all 4 corners.

I laid out my binding "frame" on the quilt top so you could see how it works.

Now is for the "fun" part. We need to tuck the quilt into the binding. You will want to get the edge of the quilt all the way into the binding where it touches the fold. It may not stay this way though but its a great place to aim for.

I pinned every seam but you can pin more or fewer spots depending on your comfort level.

Now we sew. This is hard for me because I like to line things up with the inside edge of the foot of my sewing machine but that causes too much bulk to pull through the small opening so I have to do things backward and line it up with the outer edge of the foot. Now just sew around the whole quilt. You can do a straight stitch or zig-zag. Really any stitch you prefer.

Once its all done you will have completed your quilt.

Good Job! I love quilting. I actually make a few quilts a year. I make them custom and sell them. It's a wonderful craft that I really enjoy. Lots of time and love put into these things but it makes me feel like I am doing something great. 

If you have any questions please comment and I will try to clarify. I hope you enjoyed these quilting posts. It has been really fun doing them. Thanks for reading!!!