Saturday, October 19, 2013

Rewind and Rebind

Do you remember the Quilted Mat Sew Along I did earlier in the year? For that series of tutorials I made a quilted mat using some really gorgeous Kate Spain Cuzco charm squares. Only problem - I was never happy with the binding job I did.

I used some store bought white double fold binding and it just looked bad. Every time I looked at the mat (which my sewing machine sits on) I hated it. It mocked me for months so the other day I grabbed the seam ripper and got revenge!

Here is the new, improved mat with self made aqua binding:


HUGE improvement on the old:


The lesson here for me - no more store bought binding. It is made with crappy thin polyester stuff and it's just no good. Single fold binding is such a cinch to make, I'll never go back! Even double fold is pretty easy to make.

Binding has been a skill that I've struggled with for a while, but when staying at my friend Georgia's recently, she showed me her copy of The Practical Guide to Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman. Totally stunning quilts in that book, but more importantly for me, the book has a simple tutorial in the front sharing how she makes single fold binding, and then how she attaches it to her quilts. The tutorial was the first one to give me the confidence to try again - I've bound three projects since and they've all come out perfectly.


Georgia loaned me her copy of the book but when I return it to her I will definitely be buying my own copy - I've been referring to it over and over again.

The only thing some people might not like with the technique in this book is that you hand stitch the binding to the back of the quilt. Fine for me, I find it really therapeutic to sit in front of the TV and stitch away. It is time consuming, but I'm cool with that. Sometimes it's nice to take things slow.


Since adopting this method my mitred corners have never looked so good! Strange how such simple things can make you feel happy and satisfied every time you look at it. Seriously - if you are a beginner through to an intermediate quilter, I HIGHLY recommend you buy this book.

I'm not a perfectionist and I rarely fix things after I've completed them, but I'm so glad I fixed this one up - it's a million times better! And I love the aqua!

Linking up with Blossom Heart Quilts for Sew Cute Tuesday.

21 comments:

  1. Looks really nice now. The aqua makes it pop!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amazing how much better the aqua is - store bought binding is now a thing of the past ... J

    ReplyDelete
  3. The new binding looks so much better. I think binding is a skill that so many people fear and struggle with but I think that following a really clear tutorial makes such a big difference. My first introduction was an excellent tutorial and as a result I have never feared it and it has always turned out well.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I very rarely use store bought polyester binding for anything anymore!!! The aqua looks so much better, Ros. Good on you for going back and changing the binding. I find it so hard to redo something once I consider it done, even if I'm not happy with it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, I totally agree with you and the others on the big improvement. We all learn and grow through our projects...and hopefully improve along the way! The aqua definitely was a wise choice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kathy! I totally agree that we learn and grow through our projects - when I look back through old projects I can see how far I've come with my skills. It's a great feeling :)

      Delete
  6. The new binding is much, much better! I use my own double fold binding for everything, and I enjoy hand stitching it to the back too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The aqua does look better! Mum hand stitches all of hers it much be the same technique, the little things that make them professional.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The aqua was the better choice Ros. Good job.

    Anne xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. The new binding looks fantastic. I followed your very helpful mat tutorial and had the same problem with the binding. I unpicked too because I did such a dodgy job. Like you said because you have to stare at it all the time it's worth redoing. I have that book and finally when I finish the mat I can add it to your flickr group. Thanks again for the great sewing tips.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love hand binding for quilts. I did that with the one I made last year (clearly I'm not a regular quilter!)

    ReplyDelete
  11. So perfect! I'm glad you went back to fix it. I teach a sewing/quilting class and use the same book as reference for my students and loan it out frequently. :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh wow, that does look much better! And the colour is just perfect! I really should pull that book out again and flick through.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm in the hand stitched binding camp. I love the personal touch of it :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Looks fantastic. Have this wonderful book too.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The new binding works much better! I wish I had the patience and want, to actually hand sew binding on, well, hand sew anything really!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This sounds so much better than the store-bought binding, I'm going to give it a try. Thanks for letting me know about this post.

    Mary

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for your comments - I adore hearing from you! I love to reply personally via email so if your email isn't visible in your profile feel free to leave it in your message so I can get in touch!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...