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Banish Boring Binding Forever!

Do You Have Quilts That Are Waiting To Be Finished Because You Are Searching for a New and Different Idea for Your Binding?

 

 

From: Penny Halgren
Date:

Greetings,

Do you have quilts that are waiting to be finished because you aren't sure what type of binding to use on the quilt?

You've heard about Prairie Points, but don't know exactly how to finish your quilt with them. Maybe you have heard that there is a technique to add Prairie Points using just one piece of fabric instead of all of those individual squares, but can't find anything to tell you how to do that.

Maybe this is the first quilt you have finished that has curved edges, and you aren't sure how to sew the binding on so it will be nice and smooth both around the curves and inside the corners.

Or maybe you are looking for some inspiration and a new type of binding that will make your quilt look really unique, and you just don't know where to look.

Last year, we introduced The Ultimate How to Bind a Quilt DVD Mentor, showing 6 different ways to bind a quilt. In this fantastic DVD resource, you saw:

• Double fold bias binding
• Self-binding (folding the back to the front or the front to the back)
• Knife-edge binding (2 different ways - one before you quilt, one after your quilt)
• Single fold binding using a bias tape maker
• Adding Piping to your Binding
• Prairie Points folding all of the little squares
• as well as my secret method for cutting the fabric for your binding that makes it perfect every time

 

After I sent the DVDs off to Tony, my Ace DVD copier guy in Kansas, I started getting emails asking how to bind a quilt with curved edges; and how about a Grandmother's Garden quilt with hexagons? And then how about simple binding where you can add one side at a time and not miter the corners or do anything fancy - just finish the quilt?

I covered the ways I thought most quilters would want to know in The Ultimate How to Bind a Quilt DVD Mentor. But when I discovered that you wanted to know many more ways to bind a quilt, the challenge began - to see how many other methods I could find. As of today, the number is 10!

Ten other ways to bind a quilt - can you believe it? I barely can.

But, it's true. Including the straight grain double fold, curved, hexagon (or angled edges), there is also - striped, two more ways to sew prairie points (in addition to the one in The Ultimate How to Bind a Quilt DVD Mentor), pieced binding that matches your pieced borders, french fold, simple binding where you add one piece at a time and fold in the corners - no mitering, stuffed binding - and more.

I was pretty excited to discover all of those different methods to bind a quilt that I could share with you in video, and I was ready to start binding quilts like crazy and filming what I was doing.

But then I remembered what it is like to learn a new skill or craft. Once you have a bunch of experience doing something, getting a boatload of new information is like filling your bag with candy on Halloween night. But, when you are just getting your feet wet, getting the boatload of information can be like having a fire hose blasting at you.

 

But, hold on a minute. Maybe you don't know - -

 

What's the Big Deal About Binding?

Quilts get bound every day with some kind of fabric. Sometimes it matches, other times it contrasts. Sometimes it is wide, other times, it is narrow. Sometimes single fold, other times double fold. And sometimes quilters fold the last border around the quilt to the back, or fold the backing of the quilt around to the front.

And what difference does it make as long as the quilt gets bound and finished?

Many quilters get into a routine, where they like to finish a quilt using one method.

Most of my quilts are finished using double fold bias binding. It's easy, and I don't have to think about it. But, then, there is the "odd" quilt.

Wall hanging finished with single fold bias binding made using a bias tape maker.

For example, I was working on a wall hanging. It was just a small piece, and I didn't have a lot of the fabric I wanted to use for binding. So, instead of doing a double fold bias binding, I used a simple bias binding that I made using my bias tape maker.

Another time, I had a quilt that I wanted to finish so you couldn't see the binding at all, so I made binding that exactly matched the pieced border on my quilt.

And then there are the quilts with curves or something like a Grandmother's Garden quilt, with hexagons on the edges.

How is a quilter to know all of the possibilities and which to choose? Especially when you are new to quilting.

If you have been around quilting for a long time, you probably have a collection of magazines with pictures of quilts and articles with ideas for finishing quilts that are different and interesting.

But if you are a new quilter and don't have the collection of magazines, or the collection of quilting friends with magazines, or a local quilt shop to get ideas from, you may be stuck with the same old binding - whatever you learned or figured out yourself is how all of your quilts are bound.

And, even if you had an idea, would you know how to actually sew the binding? Believe me, I've read the instructions, and many of them are not clear at all. These quilters who write them are all experts and have forgotten that not all quilters know everything that they do.

And, if you are anything like I am, if it's too confusing or looks too complicated, I just go back to something I know.

 

I Remember those Boring Binding Days!

Because I taught myself how to quilt and didn't have many quilting resources, for years, the only finishing I did on my quilts was either wrapping the backing around to the front or wrapping the front border around to the back of the quilt.

Then one day, I overheard a quilter in my local shop talk about how the edges of a quilt got so much wear that if you didn't use double edge bias binding the fabric on the edges of the quilt would wear out and the batting would show.

If that happened, she explained, there would be no way to fix the quilt, and you may as well throw it away. She agreed that you could add a new, separate binding, but that repair would certainly destroy the look of the quilt.

At that moment, I knew I was in trouble because all of my quilts had only one layer of fabric covering the edges - either the backing that was wrapped around to the front, or the outside front border that was wrapped around to the back.

So I switched to double fold bias binding.

For a while, I used the pre-made bias binding that I got from JoAnn's, But it was boring and expensive, and came only in white, off-white, black, yellow or navy blue. Now, that may sound like a lot of colors, but when the last border on your quilt is green, which of those colors do you choose? And wouldn't it be much better if your binding were green?

If only I had known how to make my own binding, this mis-match of pre-made, store-bought binding wouldn't be embarrassing me today.

Plus when I ran out of white binding in the middle of a quilt and the store didn't have any more white binding, I just used a different color, even though it looked pretty bad!

And so for years, the binding on my quilts looked like an amateur put it on. But, I didn't think I had any other choice. I still hadn't figured out how to make my own binding.

After all, how often do you go to a workshop where they actually teach you about binding? Mostly, quilting teachers talk about designing or making the quilt tops or quilting the quilts - not much about binding or finishing your quilt.

Finally one day, I took a workshop where the teacher talked about finishing quilts. And I was introduced to the idea of making my own binding.

Bias binding at that! During the workshop, we saw how to cut the strips, sew the bias seams, fold the strips in half and then attach the binding to the raw edge of the front of the quilt. It was so simple, and it made all the difference in the look of the final quilt.

And she even taught part of the secret of smooth mitered corners. I don't know, maybe I wasn't listening, but I the first binding I made was OK, but not beautiful. I felt like some of the information I needed was left out.

One month sewing binding onto a quilt that has inside and outside corners - like this hollow cube wall hanging, or a Grandmother's Garden quilt - will be a cinch.

My binding got better when I added my own techniques to what I was taught.

I spent years making adjustments in my binding techniques - measuring and ironing the strips differently, folding and pinning the mitered corners in a different way - stuff like that.

Nothing big, just little adjustments that make the difference between professonial-looking binding that complements your quilt and bunched-up binding that jumps out at you saying "I don't have a clue how to add binding to my quilt."

Now, after all those mistakes, making my own binding and stitching it onto a quilt is really easy. Plus, I have discovered that most of the techniques, like blind stitching or stitching smooth binding, transfer from one type of binding to another.

Now my binding looks like a professional stitched it, plus I have a bunch of different methods to choose from, and all of them are easy - because I have figured out the techniques.

What I have discovered is that you just need to be given the ideas and shown the techniques in a way that you can understand. Then you, too can make creative and beautiful binding for any quilt.

And now I want to share the ideas and techniques with you.

We showed you the 6 most common ways to bind a quilt in The Ultimate How to Bind a Quilt DVD Mentor.

And now you are ready for a wider variety of methods to bind a quilt.

These are all pretty easy, so don't feel like they are "advanced" techniques. They are just more creative ways to bind a quilt. And we are all about being more creative quilters, aren't we?

 

Now You Can Just Sit Back and Learn 10 New Ways to Bind a Quilt

It's like so many other things about quilting. You can look at the pictures in the book and find a new way to bind a quilt; talk to a quilter or twenty in an online Discussion Group; fold, re-fold, stitch, rip and re-stitch; talk to a friend; and generally gather as much information as you possibly can to answer all of your questions about different kinds of binding.

That's assuming you can find all of the different ways - or want to spend the time looking for something when you really aren't sure what you are looking for.

But in the end, those other quilters didn't share all of the tips and techniques you need to make beautiful binding on your quilt.

It's not your fault, and maybe it's not really their fault either. Maybe they thought they told you everything. Or maybe they told you everything they knew. But it wasn't enough. Their information didn't include all of the nitty-gritty details you need to be successful in making beautiful binding.

Or, maybe they really tried to give you all of the information you need to make the binding, but their description just didn't quite hit the mark.

But things can be different for you now.

I know how frustrating it is to learn something new, especially when there isn't an expert sitting right there showing the next step and explaining it so anyone can understand. You should have been inside my head the first time someone explained how to stitch the ends of the binding together on the machine.

Hearing it once or twice was just enough to confuse me. Yet, I knew there had to be a better way than the way I was finishing my binding. So, I found an expert, asked tons of questions, read the description in the book about 57 times (even though the cover said the instructions were easy-to-understand and the pictures were perfect), and then tried it.

It only took sewing, ripping, and re-sewing it a few times before I figured out how it actually worked. And with some more practice, now I can get it right.

I ran out of black fabric, and inserted the blue pieces in the side. I wanted the binding to match the borders, so I put a piece of blue in the binding so it would match the border.

Then there was the quilt where I ran out of fabric and couldn't finish the borders with solid strips of fabric, so I pieced the binding to match the border.

I spent days trying to figure out how I was going to bind that quilt. I could have simply made black binding, but I wanted something a little different. I wish I had someone to talk to to get an idea.

Since quilters have found The Ultimate How to Bind a Quilt DVD Mentor so helpful, I wanted to bring you even more.

The thought of unfinished quilts hiding in closets is very painful to me - especially when they could easily be finished if only you had the information, inspiration and confidence to finish them.

And now with 10 more ways to bind a quilt, putting all of that information together into one package seemed like a lot - for both you and for me.

After all, getting 10 more options all at the same time might be overwhelming. It would be for me anyway.

Plus, what if you need an opinion about which binding would look best on a particular quilt or wall hanging. Wouldn't it be great to have a community of quilters to ask?

 

 

 

 

Instead of Overwhelming You with
10 More Ways to Bind a Quilt, Let's Do
One New Method Each Month.

 

As I thought about making 10 more videos about how to bind a quilt, my head was spinning. I thought about coming up with all of the quilts or wall hangings to demonstrate on, do the actual binding on the piece, make sure that the explanation on each video really tells you what you need to know, edit the video so you don't get confused with too much information, yet get exactly the information you need.

And then I thought about you!

If I were a new quilter, I might be completely overwhelmed if I saw first 6 different ways to bind a quilt - and now 10 more ways to bind a quilt.

So, instead of both of us being overwhelmed with this idea, I thought - "What if I just introduced one new way to bind a quilt each month?" That way, I could take my time creating the DVD demonstration and make it really easy for you to see and understand. And you could look at one new way each month, and dream about a quilt that would be perfect for that type of binding.

 

Double Fold Straight Grain Binding

This Bread Basket Quilt Block is bound using Double Fold Straight Grain Binding with mitered corners.

 

This month, you will get to see how to bind a quilting using Double Fold straight grain binding.

This is a great option when you want a simple way to bind a quilt using double fold binding, but you don't have enough fabric to make bias binding.

In this video, you will see:

• how to fold and cut the strips of binding
• how to make a continuous strip
• how to miter the corners perfectly
• how to overlap the ends of the binding
• how to close the binding on the back of the quilt or wall hanging using a blind stitch

Most quilters struggle with mitered corners, and using the technique you will see in this video, your corners will be perfect every time. And - believe it or not - it is really easy - once you have the secret technique.

 

Fun with Striped Binding

And next month, you will see how to bind a quilt using striped binding.

This is a very fun method that can be used on a variety of quilts to add interest or to just tie all of the fabrics together. It could be perfect for a scrap quilt, or a quilt that has many solid colors and needs some spark.

This striped binding can add spark to an otherwise plain quilt.

 

 

In this DVD, you will see:

• how to sew the fabric together to make the binding strip
• how to decide how wide the strips should be
• how to miter the corners as you add the binding to your quilt
• how to finish the ends

 

 

 

 

You may be thinking that all of these are going to be the same, and you don't need to have all of these different videos. You can just figure it out yourself.

And that could be true. After all, sewing blocks together is basically the same from one quilt to another, isn't it?

Sew the patches together, sew the blocks into rows, add sashing, sew the rows together, add borders, layer, quilt and then add binding.

Sounds almost like making a cake.

And, while they all sound alike, we all know that there is a huge difference between making an Angel Food cake and German Chocolate cake. Mix up the ingredients or instructions, and the result will be a mess.

And, it's kind of the same with these methods of binding a quilt.

Use the wrong technique or miss a step or two, and you will be ripping and re-sewing your binding - just like I did when I learned these techniques.

Besides -

Your Time is Worth Something, Isn't It?

Whether you are being paid for your quilting time, or your are creating quilts in your free time, aren't you always looking for more ways to be more efficient? Whether it is using a sewing machine instead of sewing patches and blocks by hand, or using a rotary cutter instead of scissors, most quilters are looking for a more efficient and better way to complete a quilt.

And investing in videos demonstrating a new skill is no different. You could spend hours - like I have - figuring all of this out by yourself. Plus, you could waste fabric as you experiment. Fabric that could have been used in the quilt and not end up in the trash because it is too narrow to make a patch from.

Or, you could attend a workshop. I don't know if things are much different where you live, but I don't see How to Bind a Quilt on the list of workshops offered around here.

You could gather magazines or books, but it would take a pile of books and magazines to get all of the different methods you will get during this almost-year of How to Bind a Quilt videos.

Think of how much time, money and energy you would need to spend to get just a piece of the information you will get when you are in the How to Bind a Quilt Club.

 

Quilters are raving about Penny's How-to videos. These are comments from online viewers:

Penny, I am so grateful for your site and all the great information that you have provided for all of us quilters. I have been watching the videos and they are just GREAT. You know sometimes it is the simplest things that give some of us so much grief in quilting, but with these videos and the Frequently Asked Questions site it has been a great help. Keep up the Great work that you do for all of us. Debra in Kansas

Penny I just wanted to tell you that, with your help and the DVD's, I was able to finally actually make and finish a quilt. I had the portable DVD player right beside me and felt as if a friend was right there teaching and giving me hints on how best to finish this project. I can't say enough about how helpful the DVD's have been to me, thank you. Roberta Kelly in China, Maine

Hey great work... cool tips too... Thank you so much... graspr.com viewer, chuckwagon

Cool technique. Thanks for putting this here. graspr.com viewer, davidxl

I very much needed this instruction...Thanks for sharing your knowledge. graspr.com viewer, ellenduc

 

These are Some of the Binding Methods You Will Learn in
When You Get All of the How to Bind a Quilt DVDs:

 

Binding on curved edges. Learn how to mark and cut the borders of your quilt to get beautiful and interesting curves around your quilt. Then apply bias binding so every inch of the way, it is smooth and looks like you paid a professional to bind your quilt.

Striped binding. Sew some fun strips of fabric together to make striped binding. Cut the strips on an angle to make them "move" around your quilt, and then add the binding to your quilt perfectly using mitered corners.

Double fold straight grain binding. Much the same as double fold bias binding, but there are some differences. You will see how to miter the corners and stitch the binding on your quilt so it is smooth and the corners are perfect.

Prairie Points using one strip of fabric per side. It turns out that there are several different methods to make Prairie Points. In this method, you will see how to measure cut a strip of fabric and fold it to create Prairie Points without the hassle of folding and lining up all of those little squares of fabric.

Prairie Points facing inside your quilt. This unique method for placing Prairie Points will add interest to your quilt. Your family and quilting friends will think you are brilliantly creative.

Binding quilts with hexagon sides. These quilts are like Grandmother's Garden or the Floating Cubes. But, the technique is not limited to just hexagons. This method works on any quilt that has "inside" corners and "outside" corners. A few select tips, and your corners will be beautiful and your quilt binding perfect.

Stuffed binding. This was a new one for me, yet sounds like fun. If you want the edges of your quilt to stand out, you can stuff your binding and puff it up.

Binding with piping on the edge. In The Ultimate How to Bind a Quilt DVD Mentor, we learned how to sew piping inside the quilt, now you will see how to add piping so it is on the edge of your quilt.

and more. . .

 

 

What’s the cost to put Me on Your Quilting Team?

By now you may be wondering about the cost of these valuable resources.

Well, put it this way. 

If you hired me to consult with you to cover all of the points of how to bind a quilt in each of these 6 different ways, it would run in the neighborhood of 10-15 hours, including special time showing you how to cut the binding and sew the strips together.  Currently folks are paying me $198 per hour for consulting, that would set you back about $2.970 – and that doesn’t count travel or telephone expenses.  Plus at the end of that time, your head would be spinning, your notes would be flying, and you would just have pieces of paper to refer to.

When you join the How to Bind a Quilt Club, you get one new DVD each month that you can look at whenever you want, and as many times as you want.

Or you could spend $60-$70 for some quilting books, plus $20-$30 each for some books with tips about how to bind a quilt and then try to figure it all out yourself.  But, then, we've already tried that, haven't we?

Remember, though, it’s taken me 27 years of making all different kinds of quilts, plus an investment of thousands, of dollars to sort through all of the clutter of information and give you only the best.  And I know you want to get to the heart of binding your quilts and bypass all of that torture and unnecessary expense. 

Maybe you have already made a bunch of quilts, made some fantastic binding, and think you have seen everything already and can figure it out yourself.  Maybe, but if you are anything like I am, every time I pick up a quilting book or magazine, I learn something new from just one little article or picture.  Just imagine what you could learn from 81 pages of quilting instruction and 3 plus hours of live quilting on DVD. 

Every quilter has unique shortcuts and techniques that she has developed over time. The big difference is that I am happy to share mine! (Not all quilters are.) And because I am sewing exactly the way I sew when the camera is off, you get every inside tip and technique I have.

The thing is, this information is so valuable it could make the difference between your finishing a quilt and having an unfinished quilt sitting on your closet shelf. So, I want to make this affordable for you.

 

 

That's right! You can invest in these great quilting resources today, get started making your binding immediately, and if you are not completely happy at any time following your purchase – for any reason – just let us know, and your money will be cheerfully refunded.

 

Special Offer

There are two ways you can get this information.

The best way is to invest in the Official How to Bind a Quilt Club. That way, every month you get your DVD with a new way to bind a quilt delivered right to your snail mailbox. And you can cancel at any time. Plus, you save money. When you join the Club, you will get each DVD for a tiny $24.00, including shipping and handling.

OR - you can invest in these DVDs one month at a time and choose the topic. Each DVD will be shipped when you reserve your copy, for just $24.97 plus a tiny $3.00 for shipping and handling.

 

 

This Incredible Information Can be on Its Way to You
in Less Than Five Minutes

Taking the first step couldn't be easier.

Using our SECURE SERVER you can sign up for the Monthly Binding DVD or reserve your copy of the Binding with Curves DVD - the March selection.

I'm ready to join the Binding Club! Send me this one and the new one each month. I understand I will be charged $24.00 each month, including shipping and handling, and I can cancel at any time.

Send me just the current How to Bind a Quilt DVD. This month the topic is How to Bind a Quilt that has Curves.

This will take you to a form where you can enter your order information and be confident that it is secure. You will be charged $27.97 plus a tiny shipping and handling charge for all of this great information about How to Bind a Quilt with Curves. 

 

 

 

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren

www.How-to-Quilt.com
www.TheQuiltingCoach.com
www.QuiltBlockLibrary.com
www.Fabric-Postcards.com
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This month learn How to Bind a Quilt with double fold straight grain binding. Join the Official How to Bind a Quilt Club to get this plus 8 more DVDs showing different techniques for binding a quilt FREE.