Happy Endings: Finishing the Edges of Your Quilt (15 page)

You may need to adjust your binding width to accommodate enough designs. Cut strips of fabric to make enough binding for your quilt, each strip having the same rows of designs. The strips can be cut on the straight grain or on the bias, depending on the design in the fabric. Some diagonal designs may not be printed on a true bias, but your binding will look beautiful if you apply it carefully. Sew the strips together according to the directions on
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, and you will have a very special binding for your quilt.

Striped Binding

Striped fabric can be used in three different ways to accent the edges of your quilt.

Strips cut on the crosswise straight grain of the fabric will show all colors and parts of the striped design when sewn to your quilt.

Strips cut parallel to the lengthwise straight grain of the fabric will show a particular section of the striped design. When all strips are cut identically, you can use them to create a frame around your quilt.

Strips cut on the bias will create diagonal stripes that spiral around the edge of your quilt.

Plaid Binding

Like striped fabric, you can cut plaid binding on the straight of grain to feature a particular segment of the plaid, or you can cut it on the bias so that the entire design will be seen as it wraps diagonally around the edges of your quilt.

Cutting Scrappy Binding

Piece together fabrics from your quilt design to make a unique patchwork binding. As you finish your scrappy binding with hand stitches, choose a thread color that blends with a medium color in your binding or matches the back of the quilt. One way to make a scrappy binding is to start with a strip set. The other way is to sew individual strips together end to end. The first method makes smaller individual pieces while the second gives you longer strips of each fabric.

Strip-Set Method

You can cut straight-grain or bias strips for the strip-set method.

Straight-Grain Binding

1.
Sew strips of the various fabrics together lengthwise to make a strip set. You can cut all strips the same width or mix and match for a truly random binding. Use a short stitch length, about 15 to 20 stitches per inch, to sew the strips together. The short stitches will hold the little pieces securely when you crosscut the strip sets. Press the seam allowances open to distribute the thickness of the seams along the binding edge.