Mitered Quilt Binding
It's time to sew your doublefold quilt binding to the quilt. This method produces a continuous quilt binding with a diagonal miter at each corner.Square-up the quilt top a bit if it's become distorted, but leave the extra backing and batting intact behind it -- they will extend past the edges of the quilt top.
Before you begin, read the tuck-in method for beginning and ending doublefold quilt binding--you might prefer that finishing technique.
- Starting about 1/3 of the distance between two corners, align the raw edge of one end of the binding with the raw edge of the quilt top, right sides together. (illustration does not show excess batting and backing)
- Leave an approximate 3" unpinned tail of quilt binding at the beginning, then pin several inches of binding to the quilt.
- Do a quick alignment around the rest of the quilt, without pinning, to make sure no seam allowances within the quilt binding will end up at a corner of the quilt to create bulk. If you find a seam allowance at a corner, change the starting point and recheck.
- Sew the quilt binding to the side of the quilt, leaving the beginning tail free. Use the seam allowance you chose when you made the quilt binding.
- Stop sewing before you reach the corner of the quilt, ending the seam the same distance from the approaching quilt edge as the width of the seam allowance. That's critical. Many instructions you read tell you to end the seam 1/4" from the edge, which is fine if your binding seam is 1/4" wide, but isn't correct for narrower or wider seams. Follow that important rule if you want neat and tidy miters.
- Sew a few backstitches, cut threads and remove the quilt from the machine.
