Precision Pieced Binding

Precision Pieced Binding

Binding is usually the final step to finishing your quilt. Make it special! Whether your quilt is pieced, appliqued, painted or crazy, you might want to try my binding technique. Made with multiple matching fabrics, you can choose exactly where binding seams meet, and sew the binding seam at any chosen angle. It could add a nice finishing touch on a landscape quilt, and carry the scene out to the edges of the quilt with matching fabrics. 

"Precision Pieced Binding" is now published in American Quilter, November 2012.  Editor-in-Chief, Christine Brown asked me if I could explain - and photograph - a technique for precision pieced binding on her quilt. Yikes! I had no idea how I would do that at the time. However, the deadline was generous, and I agreed to give it my best effort. The technique I've worked out can be used with bias binding or straight of grain, with single or double fold binding.

Bonus:  At the end of the article is a technique makes that last binding seam (which can be the most challenging) easier and more accurate than any other method. I have not seen anyone else join their seams in this way, but it is SO easy!

I hope you will try my Precision Pieced Binding technique on your next quilt. This issue is available now at news stands and bookstores. Support your local quilt shop or order at www.americanquilter.com.

Keep Stitching!
Barbara M. Burnham

(c) 2012 Barbara M. Burnham. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any kind is expressly prohibited without prior written authorization.

Applique Organizer Folders

Great for hand piecers too!

Organizing Small Fabric Pieces for Applique or Hand Piecing

Applique and hand piecing often require a lot of small fabric pieces. Here is an idea to keep all those little pieces organized and handy, especially when travelling.

You will need:

• 1 Sturdy File Folder
• Cotton Batting -- leftover strips at least 12 inches long -- after trimming the edges of a quilt for binding, we often have long strips of leftover cotton batting. Save them!
• Rotary Cutter (straight blade, and pinking blade if you have one)
• Rotary Cutting Mat and Ruler
• Gluestick (not wet glue)

1. After trimming the edges of a quilt for binding, we often have long strips of leftover batting. Save those long strips! I use Quilter's Dream Cotton, Request loft.
2. Cut long edges of batting scraps with a rotary cutter. If you use a "pinking" rotary blade, the batting strips can nest together nicely. My folder is 11-3/4 inches tall so I made my batting pieces 12 inches long. A width of 8-1/2 inches would have been perfect for my folder, but narrower strips can be set side by side.
3. Open the file folder and lay it flat. On the right-hand side of the center fold, rub gluestick to cover the area, all the way to the edges. (If your folder has a "tab" don't glue that.)
4. Before the glue dries, carefully lay a strip of batting down onto the glue. The strips should be longer than the top and bottom of the folder.
5. Smooth the batting flat. Make sure all the batting adheres nice and flat. If one strip is not wide enough, add more strips until the right-hand side of the folder is covered with batting, except the folder "tab."
6. Let the glue dry. (Note: Don't use a wet glue, only gluestick. Wet glue will seep through batting, make it stiff and less "clingy," and will warp the folder.)
7. Lay the folder on a cutting mat. Rotary cut with a straight rotary blade to trim the top and bottom of excess batting strips even with the folder.
8. Arrange appliqué pieces on the batting in a logical order (by number, color, placement on the block, or however you like to work).

Fabric pieces will cling to the batting, flat and organized. Storing pieces this way avoids unnecessary handling, fray, and loss of little pieces.

You might want to store your paper pattern in the same folder. Oh, my! You could write a pattern name on the tab, and even file your folders and be really organized.

If you are like me, you will need a folder for each work in progress. Don't we all have more than one project at a time?

And here is my Applique Needle Organizer: Click here

Keep Stitching,
Barbara M. Burnham

(c) 2015 Barbara M. Burnham. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any kind is expressly prohibited without prior written authorization.