Binding: 2 1/4 versus 2 1/2 inch strips, and the mitered corner
Binding is my favorite part, which I gather is unusual, so I have paid attention to the details. For most of this year I cut binding strips at 2 1/2 inches, folded double, and attached them with a quarter inch seam. On quilts with a thin cotton batting the result was slightly hollow, with the fold of the binding not quite filled, and the edge felt soft and a bit limp. On the lap quilt with wool batting the same width was perfect, because the loft filled the fold.
So I tried 2 1/4 inch strips on the next two quilts with cotton batting. The binding came out firm and full all the way round, and the hand stitching on the back fell exactly on the seam line, which with 2 1/2 inch strips had always landed a thread or two past it. The narrower strip is a little less forgiving at the corners, but once I had done four of them it was no harder. I now choose the width by the batting: 2 1/4 for cotton and the thin blends, 2 1/2 for wool or anything puffy.
The steps I follow every time, written down so I stop reinventing them:
- Join strips with 45 degree seams, pressed open, and cut the total length to the perimeter of the quilt plus about 10 inches.
- Sew with a walking foot and a 2.5 mm stitch, starting in the middle of a side, leaving a 10 inch tail.
- Stop a quarter inch before each corner, backstitch, pull the quilt out, fold the strip straight up and then straight down along the next edge, and start again from the edge.
- Join the ends by overlapping them exactly the width of the strip, 2 1/4 or 2 1/2 inches, then sewing them on the diagonal.
On the back I finish by hand with a ladder stitch in a 50 weight cotton thread, taking the needle through the fold of the binding and then through the backing just under the seam, about eight stitches to the inch. The corners I fold into a miter on the back and close with three or four tiny stitches up the diagonal. The whole hand finish on a 60 by 72 quilt takes two long evenings, and it is the only part of quilting I can do while following a conversation.