Have you ever had a quilt turn out a little boring? Or maybe you set out to make a quick baby shower quilt, and it needs some jazz, or it’ll put the baby to sleep just looking at it! Ha! That could be a selling point I suppose…
I’m going to show you one method I use to spice things up. I add a pop of color in the form of “piping” tucked under the edge of the binding. There are a couple of methods for this, and I’m only going to cover one this time (My preferred method of the two), but I will do another post to show you the other option so you can try each and settle on whatever way you like best!
The reason I like this version is it is so versatile. I can make my own piping to tuck in or even layer up store-bought piping and flat piping together.
Or look at this one with pom fringe tucked in, how cute! You could add all kinds of fun fringe or lace or rick rack.
Bindings will never be boring again!
I prepare my basic binding and sew it to the back of the quilt all the way around, joining the ends together as I would before rolling it to the front to topstitch it down. You can find my tutorial on that process HERE.
I cut enough piping strips ¾” wide to go around the whole quilt, plus about 10”. Sew them all together end to end on the diagonal just as you would binding strips. Cut the excess away from the seams and press open. Now, fold it in half and press down the length of the strip. It should measure ⅜” (kinda small).
Starting close to an end (about 2” from the corner), place the piping piece just under the edge of the binding as it is wrapped around to the top of the quilt, being careful to leave enough of the piping to go clear to the end plus an inch or so. Put a couple of pins through the binding to hold it in place as you get ready to sew.
Set your needle position to the left and carefully take a couple of stitches to secure the layers in place. You will be topstitching to catch the binding and the piping tucked between it and the top of the quilt. I work my way down the quilt a couple of inches at a time, tucking the piping in just as I’m coming to it. I’m not a big fan of pinning everything first because inevitably I end up having to adjust and readjust as I go.
About 2” from the end, I stop and clip off the excess piping strip. I lay it along the next edge and tuck and pin the corner to hold it secure while stitching it down. I work my way around each corner and each edge until back at the first corner, and then I close it all up.
SUCCESS!
Have you had success with a not-so-bland binding? Tell me everything! Happy Sunday everyone!
Krista
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