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How to Join Quilt Binding Strips

A fabric binding is the final step in making a beautiful handmade quilt. The binding has to be a continuous strip long enough to go around the entire quilt.  In order to make continuous binding, you will need to join strips of fabric together.  This tutorial will show you how to sew the strips of fabric together with a diagonal seam to make the binding seams more sturdy, less bulky and less noticeable.  Read on to learn how to make quilt binding strips and how to join the binding strips together.Learn to join quilt binding strips - FB Ad

New to quilting?  Check out our Beginner Quilting Series for lots of useful information and tips on how to quilt.  In addition at the end of this blog, we have links to some simple quilt projects.

Learn the best way to sew quilt binding strips together by watching our video or keep reading this post for a photo tutorial with step-by-step instructions.



COMPLETE VIDEO TUTORIAL AVAILABLE! The video below is a preview with no audio, to watch the whole video tutorial, click the link How to Join Quilt Binding Strips to watch in Youtube.


Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. We make a small commission on sales through the affiliate links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance for your purchase and your support! Please see our full Affiliate Statement for more information.

Quilt binding tips

WHAT IS BINDING?

Binding is used to cover the raw edges of a project.  It is most often used in quilts, wall hangings, placemats, aprons, and many other things.

HOW to calculate quilt binding length

To determine how much quilt binding you will need to go around the edges of the quilt, lay the quilt out flat.  Measure the quilt width and measure the quilt length.  Add these two measurements together and multiply that measurement by 2.  Then add 20" to that total to allow for joining of the strips together.
(Quilt width x 2) + (Quilt length x 2) + 20" = Quilt Binding Length

If you are still uncertain about calculating the quilt binding length and how much fabric you will need, use our binding calculator to figure out the number of strips to cut for creating the binding for this quilt.

How to cut BINDING strips

There are two ways to cut your fabric for making binding strips - straight grain or on the bias.

What are straight grain strips?  There are two types of straight grain strips - cross-grain strips or lengthwise grain strips.  Cross-grain strips are cut across the width of the fabric from selvage to selvage. Lengthwise grain strips are cut parallel with the selvage. 

What are bias cut strips?  Bias cut strips are strips of fabric cut on the bias (45-degree angle).  Bias cut strips are a lot more stretchy and are ideal for binding projects with curvy edges.

Most quilters make binding using cross-grain strips.

How wide should you cut the binding strips?  Before cutting the strips you have to decide whether you want single fold or double fold binding.  Jaybird Quilts has an excellent tutorial on single fold binding and we have a video tutorial on double-fold binding.

The width of the strips is a personal choice but most people cut them either 2 ¼” or 2 ½” wide for double-fold binding.  Double-fold binding is the preferred type of binding for most quilters and is my personal choice because the edge of the quilt gets a lot of wear and double-fold binding is more durable.  

Another binding option is a scrappy binding.  You can sew leftover binding from other projects together or create a scrappy binding by using fabric from your scrap stash.

how to make quilt binding

Now let's get started on how to make cross-grain quilt binding by joining strips of fabric together.

WHAT SUPPLIES DO YOU NEED

  • Cotton Quilting Fabric
  • Rotary Cutter, Cutting Mat and Cutting Ruler
  • Sewing Machine
  • Scissors
  • Iron and Ironing Surface

STEP 1: CUT BINDING STRIPS

Join Binding Strips - Cut Fabric Begin by pressing the fabric to remove any wrinkles before you start cutting the binding strips. 

Lay the folded fabric on the cutting mat with the wrong sides together and selvages aligned evenly. With a rotary cutter and ruler, cut the binding strips the width you want.Join Binding Strips - Cut Strips

STEP 2: JOINING AND MARKING

Continuous Binding Strips - Mark and Pin The desired method of joining the strips is with a diagonal seam because the seam will be less conspicuous.

Place one strip on a flat surface with the right-side-up. Place the second strip, right-side down, on top of the first strip at a 90-degree angle. The ends of each strip should extend beyond each other to make sure the selvage does not get sewn into the binding.

Line up a ruler across the two intersections diagonally and draw a line using your marker of choice from corner to corner. To make sure the fabrics do not shift when sewing, carefully pin them together.

STEP 3: SEW

Continuous Binding Strips - Sew Move to the sewing machine and using a straight stitch, sew along the drawn line.

STEP 4: TRIM

Continuous Binding Strips - TrimTrim off the excess fabric with a rotary cutter or scissors leaving a seam allowance of ¼”.  Trim off the little dog ears or triangular piece at the end of the seam.

Continue adding strips in the same manner until you have one long strip the length required for your quilt or quilt project.

STEP 5: PRESS

Continuous Binding Strips - Press seam openWith an iron, press the seams open so they look like the above example.

The front of the strip should look like this. After folding the binding and sewing it onto the quilt or project, the diagonal seam will be almost invisible. Continuous Binding Strips - Front of strip

You now know how to join strips of fabric together to make a continuous quilt binding.  We hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Continuous Binding Strips - Finished Binding

 


QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions about this project, contact us through the YouTube Video comments or our Contact Us page. We respond to questions in e-mails and YouTube comments regularly.

HERE ARE A FEW EASY BEGINNER QUILT PROJECTs

Supporting Products and links: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. We make a small commission on sales through the affiliate links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you in advance for your purchase and your support! Please see our full Affiliate Statement for more information.

OLFA 18-Inch x 24-Inch Self-Healing Double-Sided Rotary Mat

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Use only rotary cutters and blades,Suitable for any small to medium size project Affiliate Link to Amazon.com

OLFA 24" x 36" Double-Sided, Self-Healing Rotary Mat

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Double-sided mat is solid green on one side for general crafting and has grid lines marking inches on other side for detailed cutting Affiliate Link to Amazon.com

Quilting Ruler - 18" x 5" with Lip Edge

Quilting Ruler - 18" x 5" with Lip Edge #ad

Ruler With Lip Edge features a special lip-edge on this ruler that works like a T-square against the edge of a mat. Offers perpendicular lines and angled bias lines. Affiliate Link to Amazon

Rotary Cutters

Rotary Cutters #ad

Purchase rotary cutters at Amazon.com. Check out their selection. Affiliate Link to Amazon.com






Joining Quilt Binding Strips - pin


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