Determine Binding Length
Measure your quilt along its top and its bottom and multiply that figure by two. Add 14" to the total to determine how much binding you'll need to surround the quilt.
Assemble Long Binding Strips
Sew fabric strips together until you have one long binding strip. Don't join them with straight seams across their ends. That would create a binding with periodic seam allowances that travel from the front of the quilt to the back in a straight line, resulting in way too much bulk in one spot.Use this method to assemble a binding strip with diagonal seam allowances that are distributed along the length of the finished binding.
- Place two fabric strips right sides together, perpendicular to each other. Let the ends overlap each other as shown in the diagram above. Secure strips with a straight pin.
- Mark the top strip on the diagonal, beginning and ending the line at the inward corner created where the two strips intersect each other. Sew strips together on the marked line.
- Trim away the excess fabric, leaving about a 1/4" seam allowance to the right of the seam line. Press the seam allowance open.
- Trim off the little triangular nubs that are part of the seam allowance and extend past the sides of the strip.
- Join more strips until you have assembled the binding length required for your quilt.
- Press the strip lengthwise.
