Good Morning, Quilters!
Today we are discussing whether or not it is okay to do the binding before the quilting is finished.
Before we get started…I had to say I laughed out loud at how many of you saw “MOM” and “WOW” in yesterdays tutorial of The Egg and Dart motif! I will always think of it as the “MOM” motif! It’s reminds of some of the perception illusions like the Vase and Face
or the Blue or White Dress illusion (I’m a white/gold girl!)
Boxes and Vines-A Work in Progress
You will be seeing a lot of this quilt in the next few weeks. After seven years, I am almost finished. (I’ll explain why it’s taken seven years in another post…)
Right now, I’m working on the last of the quilting, the center squares.
Hand Sewing the Binding
However, the weather has been so nice in Minnesota that I wanted to sit outside and do a little hand sewing.
So, I decided to stitch the binding before the quilting was finished.
I know that’s not the normal order of things.
However, because the border is quilted and 90% of the rest of the quilt is completed, I am confident that adding the binding at this point will not cause distortion.
I have to say, it’s rather nice to know that when I’m finished quilting, the quilt will be finished!
As an added bonus, it’s lovely to see a bound edge as I quilt!
What about YOU?
Have you ever bound a quilt before you finished quilting it?
Do you hand stitch outside?
Are you nearly finished with a big quilt?
Has it ever taken you seven years to finish a quilt?
Are you a blue and black or white and gold dress girl?
We’d LOVE to hear!
Almost-to-the-finish-line-Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori at LoriKennedyQuilts.com and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to LKQ. For all other purposes, please contact me at Lori@LoriKennedyQuilts.com. Thanks!
55 comments
annieofbluegables
I bind before I finish quilting. I also machine bind, because I’ve learned the hand stitching comes out with use. I have one quilt that has been 10 years in the making. It’s bound, and partially quilted. It just needs more. It was one of the first I ever tried to machine quilt. And as I continue to machine quilt I realize this one needs more stitching. But it still sits on my bed. As for other unfinished quilts, I make them for my grandchildren when they get baptized at age eight. So I have deadlines, and have to finish them before their baptism. This last year and a half I have done six queen size quilts and have machine quilted them. If I don’t have a deadline apparently I don’t finish them.
Lois Aspin
My longest running quilt was one I started when my daughter was in kindergarten and finished when she was in college. Her daughter has been able to get use of it since it was definitely designed for a young girl. Lack of funds and life raising a family were the main causes for the longevity of the work. Now I do 3-4 big projects in a year.
Mary
My longest running quilt project was started just after the millennium and finally completed late in 2017. It was for a dear friend who wanted me to make her one (I had no problem with that!) …then told me she would like it to be queen size and her favorite colours were deep pinks (think burgundy) blues and purple. As the pinks and purples were not in my stash I was forever buying fabric to make sure there was enough variation in the top. I had YEARS where I put it away as it just did not inspire me. Finally it came together and I had it custom quilted for her (the size and length of time it had taken deterred me from attempting the quilting myself!). These days I will happily make quilts for others…I just don’t advertise the fact beforehand, so that I can enjoy the process without stress….I have never done the binging before the quilting was finished per se….BUT I have been known to add to a ‘finished’ quilt every so often when I thought it might benefit from additional quilting!
Suzanne
Guilty! I sometimes bind before quilting and it usually works fine because I spray-baste and use a low-tension 10mm basting stitch my machine makes to give it an extra bit of stability. Generally I “pre-bind” because I’m impatient to see how it will look. But I never bind before quilting if I’m using simple line-quilting because I’d hate to constantly stop to cut threads at the binding (let alone bury them all). With uncomplicated free-motion designs I generally find it easy to fudge it near the binding if necessary.
As far as hand-stitching is concerned, I avoid it at all costs. So my bindings are always machine stitched. I don’t have the patience for it unless I’m making a gown or structured, lined suit where it’s necessary to complete a well-made garment.
I’ve not yet made a quilt bigger than 60×70″ and never have taken 7 years to complete one, mainly because I’ve only been quilting for about 3 1/2 years! However, I do have one of the first quilts I ever made that’s bound, but only partially quilted. Then again, it could be another four years before I finish it!
I’m neither blue & black nor gold & white. I’m a blue and white kind of girl.
verveine et lin
Bonjour Lori,
Tout d’abord, je vois la robe bleue et noire.
J’ai piqué un ouvrage “in the ditch” il y a quelques semaines, puis j’ai cousu la reliure… Puis j’ai repris le travail pour piquer car la courtepointe n’était pas assez travaillée. C’était un travail de deux ans, mais seulement pendant les vacances. Ce qui me demande du temps en général, c’est pour faire des photos… Mais pas sept ans quand même !
Désolée d’écrire en français mais mon langage anglais est trop mauvais !
Bonne soirée et merci pour votre travail très inspirant,
Muriel la Française
janbevan
Yes I’ve often put the binding on and then seen the quilt hanging at a show and come back and added more. As for UFOs I have one I started when my daughter was 13. She is 33 now. This quilt will skip a generation.
Valerie Duff
Yes. I’ve bound before finishing… and am about to do so again on a king size quilt! It has a linen background fabric, and it’s fraying… and the quilt is HEAVY! I figure by trimming off the extra 6-8 inches of the three layers all around I’ll get rid of lots of excess weight. My back and shoulders will thank me, as I also quilt on a sit-down midarm.
Helenanne Judisch
I bound a table runner that was stabilized with stitch in the ditch last month. I knew I’d be traveling for my twin nieces college graduations so I got it to the point where I could trim and machine sew the binding on, then packed it for travel. Hand stitched half the binding in the sunshine at UNH graduation on Saturday morning and finished the rest Sunday afternoon indoors at UVM graduation due to the pouring rain. Completed the quilting after I returned home from the family celebration weekend.
I’m pretty sure I got the idea to try this from reading your blog and starting to stabilize my quilts by stitching in the ditch. It worked beautifully for me this time and I will definitely try it again when it fits the piece and my life. Last week I did the same thing with a small quilt that I plan to add more quilting to down the line and I have another twin size quilt in the works that I may do the same thing with.
Sandra Taylor
Your post today is so hard for me to believe – as yesterday I bound a table runner without quilting because as I was truing the sides after putting on the border on the last side, I cut into the border a half inch for about 8″. I was so upset with myself. I then decided to cut the same 1/2 x 8″ off on the opposite end and rounded the 4 corners. I wanted to FMQ it so much but I thought I can’t now that I’ve put on the binding. Then I said to myself Why not FMQ – I started doing it last night before I went to bed. I REALLY – to my surprise – found it much easier to FMQ it already bound. Thank you so much for your post – it was VERY timely for me to hear that binding first is not a bad thing!
susan hilsenbeck
I guess, technically, ‘pillow-case turned’ quilts are always ‘bound’ before they are quilted. I have certainly done some of those. I also have several quilts where I thought that the quilting was done, bound the quilt in the traditional way and then realized that the quilt wanted a bit more quilting before it was ready to be done.
Kathy Firth
Oh, I forgot… hand-stitch, just finished 102×102 that took 5 years, blue/black dress
Kathy Firth
Honestly, I’ve never thought of binding before the quilting is complete. What a great idea! I’ll give it a try on my next quilt.
Christine Kamon
I have only bound a quilt once or twice before finishing the quilting. However, since I wash my quilts when finished , I’ve taken to washing and blocking them before I bind.
MichK
Blue/black. I plan to try binding before quilting because I always catch an edge. I also will be machine sewing the binding on a donation quilt soon. Anyone have a favorite stitch? (I have a Bernina 750 QE).
I took a hand quilting class. It took 3 years to do 9 blocks and learn that I’m not a hand quilter.
Also have a queen quilt that took 7 years because I gathered regional fabrics as we traveled in our trailer. In the sashing I machine stitched place names or comments.
Andrea L
My first quilt, I decided to bind it before I quilted the last border. I did stabilize it first though. I don’t really like to hand sew. Due to medical condition, it doesn’t end well.
I only saw the dress on the news and they showed both, BUT I definitely heard “yanni” the first time, then “laurel” and then back to “yanni”.
😁
Andrea L
I forgot to add:
It took me 9 years to finish my first quilt. A medical condition left me mostly bed ridden for 18 months. Then took several more years for me to be able to function somewhat. Now, thanks to the doctors, I have many more “good” days that allowed me to sew fairly frequently. I have completed two UFO tops and designed two baby quilts this year. Now I just have to quilt them. Lol
capepetrel
So as for time to complete a quilt, I spent 10 years on one. I wasn’t working on it full time, but it was a wedding quilt for a friend who was a horticulturist and I paper pieced all these blocks about flowers/gardens. The top went together easily, but I ran out of mint-colored background fabric for the border and I couldn’t buy any at the time! I had to wait 3-4 years for that color to come back into fashion, and I searched locally and in Anchorage and any where I traveled… By the time I gave it to my friend, she had two kids!
Rachelle A Pare
No I’ve never putting the binding on first. I am currently about 12 inches from finishing a 98×110 inch quilt for a wedding present.
Julia Parrino
Hi Lori… I’ve never added binding before quilting is finished, but you’ve always said that once the quilt is stabilized, you can start the quilting anywhere! I may have to try it. I’m so excited to see your whole quilt finished. Just love what I’ve seen so far!
Wendy West
I always sew it on after the quilting is done. I have never thought of sewing it on before. What is the sewing machine in the picture?
Barbara Frank
Lori, that is one pretty quilt! 🙂 I began hand-quilting a diamond star quilt top in 1986 or ’87, got bogged down having babies, and didn’t get back to it until 2014, when I got my high-speed straight-stitch machine and needed a practice piece for FMQ. It didn’t turn out perfectly, and I certainly wouldn’t enter it in the state fair, but it’s warm and pretty and a testament to the fact that I finished something 🙂 Oh, and I’m seeing blue and black.
jeandmaynard
Yes I have added a binding prior to quilting with no problems.
Anne Taschereau Mamers
Wow I can’t believe how many bind before quilting! Are you all spray basting? I try not to use that stuff. Only once I went back to re quilt a quilt that needed so much more. But I wouldn’t think of doing that again. I do get my binding ready and rolled away so it is at the ready after I square my quilt up. I mostly do Queen size quilts. Thanks Lori always enjoy your mail I receive!
Maureen B. in B.C.
Seven years … well, I’m at about the five-year mark with a Double Wedding Ring quilt that I keep having to put aside for one reason or another. Maayyyybe this year I’ll get it finished.
Mary
Yes I bind before finishing the outer borders. I have a sit down bernina With the binding on I don’t have to worry about getting extra backing caught in the borders when quilting. I do use stencils and I like to have them evenly placed on borders. Binding ahead let’s me measure more easily
Anna Jarczewski
Interesting subject. I have recently started binding my quilting earlier than normal, especially if I’m excited about seeing it finished. It hasn’t created any problems for me at this point. Also, just a little tip regarding “fraying” edges. If I am only creating a quilt top and not sandwiching right away, I will serge all the way around the piece. I find it stores better and the edges don’t fall apart. It was a tip I found online recently. Re: Dress- black and gold for sure.
KJ
I have completed the binding before all the quilting was finished many times. As soon as my quilt has been stabilized and depending on the pattern of the quilt, I generally like to complete the binding, before finishing the quilting.
As for taking seven years to finish a quilt, my record is nine years. I made a quilt for a friend’s 50th birthday and didn’t have time to finish it before her celebration. I wrapped it up and gave it to her as a gift on her birthday and included a note to give it back to me, so that I could finish the quilting (and binding). I finally completed the quilt years later and returned it to my friend on her 59th birthday!
Patty Adams
Regarding the Blue/Black or the White/Gold dress: When I first viewed it I would have sworn it was White and Gold. However, after reading the article and I went back and looked at the dress again, and it was definitely blue and black.. Weird!
Denise Tousley
Love your quilt! I started a quilt over 20 years ago to go on my king size bed and still haven’t finished it so now am thinking of sending it out to be quilted (I do not have a long arm). Either that, or cut it down and make a lap quilt 🙂
White and gold for me!
worldpresscom986
Denise, I can’t imagine cutting down a quilt you worked so hard on. Just take baby steps. 15 minutes or one section per day, and, poof, before you know it you will be done. I know I spend more time reading about quilting than actually doing it, so I try to delete as many emails as I can and get to it if even for just a little while.
Annye
Yes. I have done the binding before finishing. I make sure I’ve ditch quilted all the seams first. When I need handwork I may do the binding.
Also I have moved my portable sewing table and Featherweight outside and sewed on gorgeous summer days. I have to take advantage of every nice day here in WA.
Ida
I did bind a lap quilt that I was taking with me on a plane. I anchored the blocks before my trip and worked on the hand-stitching whenever I was waiting in a terminal. .
Karin Devore
Yes, I have bound a quilt before it is done. It seems to give me a reason then to get it quilted faster. Trying hard to get through my un-quilted tops. After your class I have been inspired to try some new ideas.
JanineMarie
Yes, I put binding on when there’s an element of quilting that needs to go right up to the binding or a quarter inch away. I love hand sewing outside. It’s the best light. I don’t have a big quilt finish recently but am almost done with a smallish hand project. My longest quilt took 17 years, I think. Blue/black!
Lillian Krueger
Yes, I stitch in the ditch on the seams, quilt the border then sew on the binding. I sew it on the back side and then stitch it on the front side. Then I quilt within each block of the quilt. I usually make utility, charity quilts and sewing the binding by machine is very durable. Also I have come to like the effect. Thank you for your site, it has a wealth of information and your explanations are easy to understand.
I will use the MOM motif on my next quilt.
Lillian
GrrannyH
I, too, sewing the binding on by machine. I usually sew the binding on to the front and turn it to the back. Then I sew the binding from the front using a decorative stitch on my 30+ year old Bernina 1130 to catch the back binding. I also glue baste instead of using pins or clips. I’d rather spend time gluing than hand sewing. I’ve never sewn it on before the quilt was done, but I can definitely see the plus side for doing so, once the borders are done.
Karrin Hurd
I have bound a quilt before I was finished quilting when the edges were fraying badly! Last year I finally finished hand quilting a small maybe 40×40 inch quilt I started in 1997. It kept getting shoved in the closet or cabinet and being forgotten. It was my first hand quilting project. Am about to embark on another one and now that I’m retired hopefully it will get done sooner!
Marta Horesovsky
I have done it before but the current one has turned out to be big mess ! I had it pinned down to 4 inch grid and all was very smooth. Sewed the scalloped edges and one border
toward the middle… OH Noooo the middle is all loose everywhere… pins still in ! What a surprise and mystery. So I am “ripping” out one whole side of the middle so an adjustment can be made..Well… live and learn…don’t do this again !! LOL (back here in a week)
Lynea Askey
I will do most of the quilting, but I will always bind the quilt before I do the borders. This way, I know that none of my border quilting will be hidden behind the binding. As for hand stitching outside, I like to do my cross-stitching at my picnic table during the summer.
Barbara Daniel
Is the blue fabric in your quilt a stripe or is it pieced. I absolutely love your quilt. It may have taken 7 years to finish but well worth it. I have never bound a quilt before finishing the quilting but I have several quilts that have been waiting to be quilted for many years. I’m afraid I will mess up a quilt that I spent so much time on and did a good job on.
Deb Peterson
I haven’t done the binding before finishing the quilting yet, although I’m intrigued by the idea. I do hand sewing outside, love sitting on the deck with my feet up and stitching. I even do hand stitching while camping, sitting by the fire or at the table looking at nature!
Kim
Yes! to finishing the binding before quilting a quilt. I was taught this technique by a wonderful teacher and talented art quilter by the name of Karen Cunigan from the San Diego, CA area. The trick is spray basting first which prevents the shifting of the layers. I’ve been doing it for years this way with no issues. It is lovely to machine quilt with finished edges! I sometimes handsew outside if it isn’t windy. Where I live it is often quite windy. I’m ashamed to admit that yes, I have taken 7 years, at least and more than once, to finish a quilt. The best motivator to get those quilts finished was a UFO challenge my guild did a few years ago. Nothing like a competition to motivate a person! And lastly, I’m definitely a blue and black dress girl.😊
Patricia Evans
I often bind small quits (up to lap size) before I finish quilting the outer border. I then pinned back the binding to the batting so I can quilt up to the edge of the binding. Then I handstitch the binding down which I really enjoy. I find that this keeps the edge of the quilt from getting distorted while quilting the border and doesn’t affect the end result. I will confess that I don’t “square up” a quilt before binding, either. I saw th dress as blue and black.
Jan Sieg
I started a quilt in 1986 when my daughter was moving from a crib to a big girl bed. I finished in 2016 when my granddaughter moved to her big girl bed
Barb
That is so funny. I too did an entire quilt by hand and started it for my daughter’s seventh birthday. I gave it to her for her 40th birthday. I actually finished it the week before her birthday. I swore I would never quilt again. Went to a quild and found the used sewing machines and I was soon hooked.
JoyceO
I, too, have bound a quilt before finishing the quilting. It turned out perfectly. I feel that as long as everything is stabilized in the body of the quilt it is A-OK to do binding beforehand. It has worked for me!!!
Phyllis Arnold
Yes, I’ve finished most of the quilting but wanted to get the binding on now. So have a few areas that need more quilting.
Sharon Joran
Sorry for this, but I am having trouble reading the printed information in your new format with the background staying stationary while the print scrolls. I love the content, but my eyes do not appreciate the strain.
Terri
Yes, I find it difficult to read with a busy background.
gladquilts
Me, too. Thought it was because I am so old, but it does get in the way.
Susan
I agree with you.
Leslie Schmidt
Same here.
Peggy Aare
I ALWAYS bind the quilt as soon as I stitch it into large blocks and stabilize the border. Then I have no problem hanging it over a chair and using it decoratively while I am working on the quilting motifs. I love having the newest quilts out where I can see them, so I always bind it early on.
Judy
Me too!!
SheriR
Why yes I have bound a quilt before quilting it. All trimmed and perfect and binding worked then!! Quilting was easy and light and the quilt turned out wonderfully. I’ve done it more than once and I’m certain I will again. 😱😜
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