The Final Stitch: How to Bind Curves and Circles with Bias Binding - Video Tutorial
What's the trick to finishing a curve or circle? Bias binding! Natalie shows how to cut and assemble bias binding from your favorite fabrics, then how to apply that bias binding to your curved corners, scalloped borders, or total circles. Wondered if there was a trick to finishing Misty's circle potholder project? Get all the hints here on the Final Stitch!
Instructor
Natalie Doan
Natalie is the host of Quilting 101, Embroidery 101 and the Creative Strategist and Editor of Block Magazine at Missouri Star Quilt Company. She was taught how to sew by her mom, of course, and began quilting when she grew up.
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Chapters
- 0:00Introduction
- 0:18Will Curves Change the Way I Bind?
- 0:33Cutting Bias Binding
- 5:55Getting the Last Binding Strips from the Ends
- 7:54Joining Bias Binding Strips
- 11:42Stitching and Closing Binding on the Curve
- 17:52Closing Curved Binding on Multiple Layers
- 18:46Scallop Binding in the Valleys
- 22:40Conclusion
Common Questions
What is covered in The Final Stitch: How to Bind Curves and Circles with Bias Binding - Video Tutorial?
What's the trick to finishing a curve or circle? Bias binding! Natalie shows how to cut and assemble bias binding from your favorite fabrics, then how to apply that bias binding to your curved corners, scalloped borders, or total circles. Wondered if there was a trick to finis...
How long is the tutorial video?
The tutorial video is 00:23:12.
Are supplies listed for this tutorial?
Yes. The tutorial page includes the supplies and materials connected to this project.
Is a transcript available?
Yes. A written transcript is available on the tutorial page.
Video Transcript
Natalie: Hey everybody, welcome to Final Stitch. I’m Natalie with Missouri Star Quilt Company and today we’re going to talk about binding curves or circles. And I’m excited to get to it.
Liz: Sandra Van Houston asked us, on our trimming and squaring your quilt episode, “If I round the corners will it change the way I bind?” We’ve also been asked by Tanya, “Natalie, once we’ve cut around corners, can you show us how to sew the binding on the curve? Please and thank you.”
Natalie: Ok so two questions, two answers. First let’s start by cutting some bias binding. And we’ll go through that real quick. And then we will stitch some binding onto a curve. I’ve got a circle that we can work with, so but let’s start with cutting a bias binding first.
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: Often it seems more complicated than it really is. And I’ve learned a few tricks. There’s rulers out there that help but I’m just going to show you with a basic straight ruler, things we commonly have at home. One of the things that is tricky is the width. And a lot of times you’ll see people cutting a half a yard. Well a half a yard is great if your ruler can stretch that far. But the longest one I have is a six by 24. And so I’m going to
go ahead and lay the 45 down here like this. And you’ll see, if you look at the measurement from this bottom down here up to here, the tallest I can get is about 17 inches. So that’s an inch shorter than a half a yard but that is what I’m going to cut my width to so that my ruler fits all the way across. So just a little trick that I use. And I don’t find that that inch bothers me too much as far as having long enough strips. I think it works just great. Alright, so we’re going to go 17 inches here. And I’m just cutting width of fabric yardage to start. Ok. I’m going to straighten this other edge just because I want, when you cut your binding strips on the bias you’re going to use both of those edges. So I just want to make sure this one is nice and straight. And it just has a tiny bit of a curve to it so I’ll just straighten that out. I thought that didn’t go all the way down there but it’s ok. Alright, next thing you’re going to do is open it up because we are going to cut this way now. And these little stripes are going to go on the bias and they’re going to look so cute.
Liz: Oh nice. You can turn any stripe into a bias stripe if you cut it on the bias.
Natalie: Absolutely. And those are the best one, they’re so cute.
Ok, so your ruler, on both corners you’ll see these lines and they’re the 30, 45, and 60. And they make all these different designs if you know how to use them. So you’re going to pick, whether you’re left handed or right handed, right handers are going to go this direction, left handers will go this direction. So adjust to what’s comfortable for you and which style
you want to use. So I lined my tool, what I do to get the most out of it and when I start I try and start from this corner. And you can absolutely go back and use the rest of this triangle. I usually just kind of cut the middle chunk first and then if that’s enough, great and if I need the smaller
pieces, I’ll use them. And I’ll show you one when we get there. Alright so I’m going to start by lining up my 45° angle right along the bottom edge of this cut fabric. And I’m going to scoot it over until I’m out of the way of the selvedge and that’s going to be my first cut. Ok? So I’m going to set this aside for now and then what I’m going to do is continue cutting
using the 45 along the bottom and lining up 2 ½ inches wide using my ruler. So you’ll see I’m still cutting a 2 ½ inch wide strip but I’m using the 45 down here. And because of the way this is cut these pieces are going to match up when you get ready to sew your strips together. So you
don’t actually have to do the crossover. You’ll still cross them over but it looks just a little bit different. So let me cut a few strips and then we’ll get to sewing them together.
Liz: So if the stitch didn’t look right when you have the corner of your 24 inch on the edge of the fabric and your 45° line along the bottom of the fabric. Natalie: Yep and then you’re also going to look at your 2 ½ inch
marks and make sure that you’re getting the right width. Now if you’re cutting, say you had a ½ yard and you wanted to go that extra inch, just slide your ruler up as you go. It’s not that big of a deal. I just find it makes it easier for me. So no big deal either way. I’ve also found that if it feels like you get a lot more binding strips but I don’t know if that’s accurate or not.
Liz: It feels like it.
Natalie: Ya, sometimes. Alright so I’m going to keep on going here. Alright so I’m getting to the end of my strip of fabric here and you can see that I have a little bit of a corner down here, right here in this section. Ok so I’m going to go ahead and cut this strip and then I’m going to show you how to fix that end. Alright and this will apply to the whole rest of this because it’s not going to, you don’t have that straight line at the bottom anymore. Now you’re working with the end. So what you’re going to do is, and just to check myself I would pull out a previous cut strip to make sure I”m going the right direction, ok? So these are still going this way which means your straight line down here needs to go that way. So you’re going to put your 45° angle along the side of your strip on this top side and then all you do is cut straight along the bottom. I’ll move that out of the way. And then you’ve got that same straight line that’s going to line up with all the rest of your strips. Alright, I can do one more, no problem. At this point I don’t have that straight line at the bottom to line up my 45’s so I’m just trusting that I cut straight enough that as I continue with my 2 ½ inch strips they’re going to be straight. Ok, so again to get that bottom line I’m going to line my 45° angle on the side of the strip. And just if you’re worried, double check it with a different one. And that is going to give us that same cut. Does that make sense?
Liz: Yes.
Natalie: Ok, and then I’m going to come at it from this side being I’m right handed. Sorry, there we go. And then all of your strips will have that lovely 45° angle cut and they will all fit together great.
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: Ok, so now we’re ready to join these strips together and it’s pretty simple. You’re still going to use your little T method, the cross plus method. You want to make sure that you overlap these by a quarter of an inch and sew in that little valley. That will keep your strips lined up so when you open them up they’re not offset.
Liz: Ok.So you might be tempted to line them up
Natalie: You might be but don’t do it.
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: Overlap by a quarter of an inch or the width of your seam really but hopefully it’s pretty close. And then just sew straight across. And these should all match because we’ve cut them all using that correct angle. And just continue to join them. I flip this one straight over and then make sure my first piece goes out and I don’t actually, accidentally make a circle. Not yet. It’s not time for that. Ok and then this one goes face up. And we overlap by a quarter of an inch. Alright.
Liz: How would someone know how many strips they’re going to need when using this method?
Natalie: Well so typically when you cut binding from straight grain it’s 40 inches, 45. I usually count by 40 just to make sure I have enough. And these ones, so measure your strip. These ones actually are closer, and I measure from the inner part of the cut just to get an idea. This one is about 22 inches so you’d need twice as many of these as your normal 45 or 40. So you know if you cut eight strips normally for whatever size quilt then you’re going to want 16 of these.
Liz: Ok. Good deal.
Natalie: But ya, it’s just the length, however long your strip is and then you
need to know the length of your whole quilt. So add your two sides and your top and bottom and then divide that by this number and you’ll know how many strips to cut.
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: Ya pretty simple. And we have calculators on our phones so no need to work too hard at it. Alright, line it up and keep on sewing. Ok I think that I have a little circle that I can use for a quick demonstration and three ought to be plenty to go around that so let me press this. And you press it the same way, just be gentle because it’s bias and it will stretch.
So you don’t want to, you can see how easily it pulls. You don’t want to pull too hard.
Liz: It stretches actually like that is the magic of the bias.
Natalie: That’s your best friend in this situation.
Liz: Because it will gently stretch around the curve instead of anything getting in the way.
Natalie: Yep. So you’re still pressing it in half just like our traditional binding. Ok so I’m just going to stitch it on this curve, this circle that we just cut out of quilted fabric. It’s just one layer thick, no big deal. And I’m going to make sure and leave a good chunk, maybe like six to eight
inches. It’s a small circle so I won’t need that much when I go to close it but I want to be able to get around it and show you. So I’m still putting this, to me this green is the top. I’m still going to add it to the top. You can do whichever direction you want.
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: But typically, I mean, if you’re hand binding, stitch it on the top, flip it around, hand bind it to the back. And you’re just going to go slow.
You’re going to line it up with the edge and you’re going to turn as you go.
And just keep lining it up. And what will happen is the binding will stretch
as you turn and then you’ll end up with this little kind of ruffley thing. It’s not super bad and don’t pull it very hard. Just keep it, just keep it lined up with the edge of your quilt.
Liz: And you’re just taking a few stitches at a time?
Natalie: Just a few stitches, going nice and slow and trying to keep as straight as you can. It’s a little bit tricky but I didn’t change my stitch length. I didn’t do anything. It’s my normal what I would do to put on a straight grain binding. And I’m just going to keep on going right around that curved edge. It can be kind of scary at first but it is not as hard as you might think, I promise.
Liz: That’s true of so many things we tell ourselves.
Natalie: That is so true. It always seems harder than it is. And it’s totally ok to cut out a few circles and practice a few times before you do the real thing because that’s how we learn and how we get better. Alright so I’m around far enough now that I think I can close this. So what I’m going to do first is I’m going to cut this flat because it’s easier for me to sew together the square edges at this point just because I don’t have an exact measurement right now. So I’m going to trim this straight. And I’m actually going to take it out of the machine just to show you what I’m going to do here. Let me move this. So I’m going to kind of hand hold it down but I’m going to open, actually I’m going to overlap them, sorry I’m not going to open it yet. I’m going to overlap them by the 2 ½ inches which you can use your little piece that you cut, just lay it in there. And you’re kind of guessing a little bit, try not to pull too much. And I’m going to give you a
little hot secret that I don’t usually say because it’s not really accurate but I always cut my binding an ⅛ of an inch short so that it doesn’t end up with too much binding and not enough quilt.
Liz: That’s a really good tip.
Natalie: Ya and because you can usually stretch the binding just enough, an ⅛ is not a lot but it makes all the difference for me. And I think it actually helps a lot too with bias because you don’t want it to be too, you don’t want it to be rumply.
Liz: Right and it naturally stretches on the bias. Ok.
Natalie: Yes. So I’m going to cut it about an ⅛ of an inch shorter than the 2 ½ inch width, right. I try and get a nice straight cut. Ok then we’re closing it the exact same way with normal straight grain. We’re going to fold this one up and fold this one over. And we’re going to lay them on top of each other and sew from top left to bottom right. Ok?
Liz: And that’s just the very same way?
Natalie: The exact same way. Yep and I got a little too close on this so I’m
just going to pull that back just a tiny bit to get myself some room. It’s ok to do that by the way. You’re not stuck just because it’s already sewn. Alright, it’s a little fiddly but you know closing binding is just fiddly. That’s what it is. So I get my top lined up really good and then I set the presser foot on it to hold it and go back and double check that I’ve got no wrinkles or folds and my base point is lined up and then it’s just sewing from corner to corner. And it helps if you have seam tape if you want. And you can draw the line if you want, either way works. I’m an eyeballer. I guess I get that from my mom. Alright so then you can test it out and see and it looks like I’m going to be ok. So I’m going to trim this off. And then we’re just going to continue to go all the way around that circle and close this up.
Liz: I’m going to say it’s a lot easier than I expected.
Natalie: It really is. I don’t do it often but it is much easier than you would think. And because it’s bias you have that little extra stretch and you can kind of just make it work. And then I”m going to do a little backstitch where I start and stop. So you can see now all you’ve got to do is flip it around to the other side and handstitch it closed. Maybe use some wonder clips and stitch it as you go. It works perfect.
Liz: So that actually leads into a question we had from Vicky. She said, “Misty made a potholder on Missouri Star Live that was a circle. I’ve never joined binding on a circle. How do you do that?” So you’ve just shown us that. Is it any different when you have a potholder which has more layers?
Natalie: So it shouldn’t be any different. I actually have one of Misty’s here just because we had the question and so she has her layers. These are pinned really well. I would want to probably make sure that that all stays in place. And I would start and stop not where the layers connect. I would do that over here. So ya, this binding looks ok, we could add that to it. But I would start about here and then go all the way around. So these just get
stitched over. And then join it again just like we did on this other piece and same thing.
Liz: Easy peasy
Natalie: Ya should be easy peasy. We’re going to make all the circle potholders now.
Liz: Alright, one last question we have is from Mari. She says, “I cut scallops. How do I attach the bias binding in the valleys?”
Natalie: Ok. So that is one of my mom’s favorite tricks. She loves talking about this. And I have a little sample here so I will show you. I’ve got quite a bit of the binding sewn on already. And I’ve already closed the edge. So I’m just going to show you this part right here, whoops, upside down. Ok so I’m going to start, this is the corner so we’ll go around the corner and then we’ll go and do a couple of the valley’s, ok?
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: Alright. So this goes on just the same way that our circle binding did, that we showed earlier. We have bias binding by the way. Don’t do scallops without bias because that will be very difficult. Not fun at all and will test your patience. Alright so we are going to continue going around the curve very gently curving our binding to match the curve of the quilt.
And it’s good to adjust where the quilt is as you go because you don’t want to tug too hard in one direction or the other. Alrighty, so I am almost to this little valley here. And this is Mom’s favorite thing. So what do you do? You just pull it straight.
Liz: That’s it?
Natalie: That’s it. You just straighten it out and keep right on going. And then it will create its own little peaky edge and you flip it to the back and stitch just like normal.
Liz: Ok, so you don’t have to have
Natalie: I’ll get to another one here in just a minute. Go all the way around. And see how it bumps in here. We’re just going to pull it straight so you stitch straight across. And then you’re going to go back up to your curve. And I believe we have finished this one. So see how that goes? Where it bends you just pull it straight and sew straight across.
Liz: That is easy peasy.
Natalie: And when you flip it you’re going to do the same thing on the back as you’re handstitching. Pull it straight and then when it relaxes it will just make a little dip. It looks great. Super easy. Way less intimidating than it seems like it would be. So yep. Another kind of hot tip. I, and Mom does this too, if you feel like it’s going to be difficult to hold onto you can press it back with your iron ahead of time. So just putting your quilt down and pressing your binding away from the quilt top
Liz: Helps you to pull it around to the front.
Natalie: Yes, it gives it just a little bit of steam and pressure. And then when you’re folding it over the back, it’s just so much easier. Instead of fighting against it, it’s already there for you.
Liz: So literally a hot tip to press it back.
Natalie: Yes. Press your binding back. It just helps so much. It makes life so much easier.
Liz: Ok. Well we hope these have answered your questions about curves
and circles and bias binding!
Liz: Sandra Van Houston asked us, on our trimming and squaring your quilt episode, “If I round the corners will it change the way I bind?” We’ve also been asked by Tanya, “Natalie, once we’ve cut around corners, can you show us how to sew the binding on the curve? Please and thank you.”
Natalie: Ok so two questions, two answers. First let’s start by cutting some bias binding. And we’ll go through that real quick. And then we will stitch some binding onto a curve. I’ve got a circle that we can work with, so but let’s start with cutting a bias binding first.
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: Often it seems more complicated than it really is. And I’ve learned a few tricks. There’s rulers out there that help but I’m just going to show you with a basic straight ruler, things we commonly have at home. One of the things that is tricky is the width. And a lot of times you’ll see people cutting a half a yard. Well a half a yard is great if your ruler can stretch that far. But the longest one I have is a six by 24. And so I’m going to
go ahead and lay the 45 down here like this. And you’ll see, if you look at the measurement from this bottom down here up to here, the tallest I can get is about 17 inches. So that’s an inch shorter than a half a yard but that is what I’m going to cut my width to so that my ruler fits all the way across. So just a little trick that I use. And I don’t find that that inch bothers me too much as far as having long enough strips. I think it works just great. Alright, so we’re going to go 17 inches here. And I’m just cutting width of fabric yardage to start. Ok. I’m going to straighten this other edge just because I want, when you cut your binding strips on the bias you’re going to use both of those edges. So I just want to make sure this one is nice and straight. And it just has a tiny bit of a curve to it so I’ll just straighten that out. I thought that didn’t go all the way down there but it’s ok. Alright, next thing you’re going to do is open it up because we are going to cut this way now. And these little stripes are going to go on the bias and they’re going to look so cute.
Liz: Oh nice. You can turn any stripe into a bias stripe if you cut it on the bias.
Natalie: Absolutely. And those are the best one, they’re so cute.
Ok, so your ruler, on both corners you’ll see these lines and they’re the 30, 45, and 60. And they make all these different designs if you know how to use them. So you’re going to pick, whether you’re left handed or right handed, right handers are going to go this direction, left handers will go this direction. So adjust to what’s comfortable for you and which style
you want to use. So I lined my tool, what I do to get the most out of it and when I start I try and start from this corner. And you can absolutely go back and use the rest of this triangle. I usually just kind of cut the middle chunk first and then if that’s enough, great and if I need the smaller
pieces, I’ll use them. And I’ll show you one when we get there. Alright so I’m going to start by lining up my 45° angle right along the bottom edge of this cut fabric. And I’m going to scoot it over until I’m out of the way of the selvedge and that’s going to be my first cut. Ok? So I’m going to set this aside for now and then what I’m going to do is continue cutting
using the 45 along the bottom and lining up 2 ½ inches wide using my ruler. So you’ll see I’m still cutting a 2 ½ inch wide strip but I’m using the 45 down here. And because of the way this is cut these pieces are going to match up when you get ready to sew your strips together. So you
don’t actually have to do the crossover. You’ll still cross them over but it looks just a little bit different. So let me cut a few strips and then we’ll get to sewing them together.
Liz: So if the stitch didn’t look right when you have the corner of your 24 inch on the edge of the fabric and your 45° line along the bottom of the fabric. Natalie: Yep and then you’re also going to look at your 2 ½ inch
marks and make sure that you’re getting the right width. Now if you’re cutting, say you had a ½ yard and you wanted to go that extra inch, just slide your ruler up as you go. It’s not that big of a deal. I just find it makes it easier for me. So no big deal either way. I’ve also found that if it feels like you get a lot more binding strips but I don’t know if that’s accurate or not.
Liz: It feels like it.
Natalie: Ya, sometimes. Alright so I’m going to keep on going here. Alright so I’m getting to the end of my strip of fabric here and you can see that I have a little bit of a corner down here, right here in this section. Ok so I’m going to go ahead and cut this strip and then I’m going to show you how to fix that end. Alright and this will apply to the whole rest of this because it’s not going to, you don’t have that straight line at the bottom anymore. Now you’re working with the end. So what you’re going to do is, and just to check myself I would pull out a previous cut strip to make sure I”m going the right direction, ok? So these are still going this way which means your straight line down here needs to go that way. So you’re going to put your 45° angle along the side of your strip on this top side and then all you do is cut straight along the bottom. I’ll move that out of the way. And then you’ve got that same straight line that’s going to line up with all the rest of your strips. Alright, I can do one more, no problem. At this point I don’t have that straight line at the bottom to line up my 45’s so I’m just trusting that I cut straight enough that as I continue with my 2 ½ inch strips they’re going to be straight. Ok, so again to get that bottom line I’m going to line my 45° angle on the side of the strip. And just if you’re worried, double check it with a different one. And that is going to give us that same cut. Does that make sense?
Liz: Yes.
Natalie: Ok, and then I’m going to come at it from this side being I’m right handed. Sorry, there we go. And then all of your strips will have that lovely 45° angle cut and they will all fit together great.
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: Ok, so now we’re ready to join these strips together and it’s pretty simple. You’re still going to use your little T method, the cross plus method. You want to make sure that you overlap these by a quarter of an inch and sew in that little valley. That will keep your strips lined up so when you open them up they’re not offset.
Liz: Ok.So you might be tempted to line them up
Natalie: You might be but don’t do it.
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: Overlap by a quarter of an inch or the width of your seam really but hopefully it’s pretty close. And then just sew straight across. And these should all match because we’ve cut them all using that correct angle. And just continue to join them. I flip this one straight over and then make sure my first piece goes out and I don’t actually, accidentally make a circle. Not yet. It’s not time for that. Ok and then this one goes face up. And we overlap by a quarter of an inch. Alright.
Liz: How would someone know how many strips they’re going to need when using this method?
Natalie: Well so typically when you cut binding from straight grain it’s 40 inches, 45. I usually count by 40 just to make sure I have enough. And these ones, so measure your strip. These ones actually are closer, and I measure from the inner part of the cut just to get an idea. This one is about 22 inches so you’d need twice as many of these as your normal 45 or 40. So you know if you cut eight strips normally for whatever size quilt then you’re going to want 16 of these.
Liz: Ok. Good deal.
Natalie: But ya, it’s just the length, however long your strip is and then you
need to know the length of your whole quilt. So add your two sides and your top and bottom and then divide that by this number and you’ll know how many strips to cut.
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: Ya pretty simple. And we have calculators on our phones so no need to work too hard at it. Alright, line it up and keep on sewing. Ok I think that I have a little circle that I can use for a quick demonstration and three ought to be plenty to go around that so let me press this. And you press it the same way, just be gentle because it’s bias and it will stretch.
So you don’t want to, you can see how easily it pulls. You don’t want to pull too hard.
Liz: It stretches actually like that is the magic of the bias.
Natalie: That’s your best friend in this situation.
Liz: Because it will gently stretch around the curve instead of anything getting in the way.
Natalie: Yep. So you’re still pressing it in half just like our traditional binding. Ok so I’m just going to stitch it on this curve, this circle that we just cut out of quilted fabric. It’s just one layer thick, no big deal. And I’m going to make sure and leave a good chunk, maybe like six to eight
inches. It’s a small circle so I won’t need that much when I go to close it but I want to be able to get around it and show you. So I’m still putting this, to me this green is the top. I’m still going to add it to the top. You can do whichever direction you want.
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: But typically, I mean, if you’re hand binding, stitch it on the top, flip it around, hand bind it to the back. And you’re just going to go slow.
You’re going to line it up with the edge and you’re going to turn as you go.
And just keep lining it up. And what will happen is the binding will stretch
as you turn and then you’ll end up with this little kind of ruffley thing. It’s not super bad and don’t pull it very hard. Just keep it, just keep it lined up with the edge of your quilt.
Liz: And you’re just taking a few stitches at a time?
Natalie: Just a few stitches, going nice and slow and trying to keep as straight as you can. It’s a little bit tricky but I didn’t change my stitch length. I didn’t do anything. It’s my normal what I would do to put on a straight grain binding. And I’m just going to keep on going right around that curved edge. It can be kind of scary at first but it is not as hard as you might think, I promise.
Liz: That’s true of so many things we tell ourselves.
Natalie: That is so true. It always seems harder than it is. And it’s totally ok to cut out a few circles and practice a few times before you do the real thing because that’s how we learn and how we get better. Alright so I’m around far enough now that I think I can close this. So what I’m going to do first is I’m going to cut this flat because it’s easier for me to sew together the square edges at this point just because I don’t have an exact measurement right now. So I’m going to trim this straight. And I’m actually going to take it out of the machine just to show you what I’m going to do here. Let me move this. So I’m going to kind of hand hold it down but I’m going to open, actually I’m going to overlap them, sorry I’m not going to open it yet. I’m going to overlap them by the 2 ½ inches which you can use your little piece that you cut, just lay it in there. And you’re kind of guessing a little bit, try not to pull too much. And I’m going to give you a
little hot secret that I don’t usually say because it’s not really accurate but I always cut my binding an ⅛ of an inch short so that it doesn’t end up with too much binding and not enough quilt.
Liz: That’s a really good tip.
Natalie: Ya and because you can usually stretch the binding just enough, an ⅛ is not a lot but it makes all the difference for me. And I think it actually helps a lot too with bias because you don’t want it to be too, you don’t want it to be rumply.
Liz: Right and it naturally stretches on the bias. Ok.
Natalie: Yes. So I’m going to cut it about an ⅛ of an inch shorter than the 2 ½ inch width, right. I try and get a nice straight cut. Ok then we’re closing it the exact same way with normal straight grain. We’re going to fold this one up and fold this one over. And we’re going to lay them on top of each other and sew from top left to bottom right. Ok?
Liz: And that’s just the very same way?
Natalie: The exact same way. Yep and I got a little too close on this so I’m
just going to pull that back just a tiny bit to get myself some room. It’s ok to do that by the way. You’re not stuck just because it’s already sewn. Alright, it’s a little fiddly but you know closing binding is just fiddly. That’s what it is. So I get my top lined up really good and then I set the presser foot on it to hold it and go back and double check that I’ve got no wrinkles or folds and my base point is lined up and then it’s just sewing from corner to corner. And it helps if you have seam tape if you want. And you can draw the line if you want, either way works. I’m an eyeballer. I guess I get that from my mom. Alright so then you can test it out and see and it looks like I’m going to be ok. So I’m going to trim this off. And then we’re just going to continue to go all the way around that circle and close this up.
Liz: I’m going to say it’s a lot easier than I expected.
Natalie: It really is. I don’t do it often but it is much easier than you would think. And because it’s bias you have that little extra stretch and you can kind of just make it work. And then I”m going to do a little backstitch where I start and stop. So you can see now all you’ve got to do is flip it around to the other side and handstitch it closed. Maybe use some wonder clips and stitch it as you go. It works perfect.
Liz: So that actually leads into a question we had from Vicky. She said, “Misty made a potholder on Missouri Star Live that was a circle. I’ve never joined binding on a circle. How do you do that?” So you’ve just shown us that. Is it any different when you have a potholder which has more layers?
Natalie: So it shouldn’t be any different. I actually have one of Misty’s here just because we had the question and so she has her layers. These are pinned really well. I would want to probably make sure that that all stays in place. And I would start and stop not where the layers connect. I would do that over here. So ya, this binding looks ok, we could add that to it. But I would start about here and then go all the way around. So these just get
stitched over. And then join it again just like we did on this other piece and same thing.
Liz: Easy peasy
Natalie: Ya should be easy peasy. We’re going to make all the circle potholders now.
Liz: Alright, one last question we have is from Mari. She says, “I cut scallops. How do I attach the bias binding in the valleys?”
Natalie: Ok. So that is one of my mom’s favorite tricks. She loves talking about this. And I have a little sample here so I will show you. I’ve got quite a bit of the binding sewn on already. And I’ve already closed the edge. So I’m just going to show you this part right here, whoops, upside down. Ok so I’m going to start, this is the corner so we’ll go around the corner and then we’ll go and do a couple of the valley’s, ok?
Liz: Ok.
Natalie: Alright. So this goes on just the same way that our circle binding did, that we showed earlier. We have bias binding by the way. Don’t do scallops without bias because that will be very difficult. Not fun at all and will test your patience. Alright so we are going to continue going around the curve very gently curving our binding to match the curve of the quilt.
And it’s good to adjust where the quilt is as you go because you don’t want to tug too hard in one direction or the other. Alrighty, so I am almost to this little valley here. And this is Mom’s favorite thing. So what do you do? You just pull it straight.
Liz: That’s it?
Natalie: That’s it. You just straighten it out and keep right on going. And then it will create its own little peaky edge and you flip it to the back and stitch just like normal.
Liz: Ok, so you don’t have to have
Natalie: I’ll get to another one here in just a minute. Go all the way around. And see how it bumps in here. We’re just going to pull it straight so you stitch straight across. And then you’re going to go back up to your curve. And I believe we have finished this one. So see how that goes? Where it bends you just pull it straight and sew straight across.
Liz: That is easy peasy.
Natalie: And when you flip it you’re going to do the same thing on the back as you’re handstitching. Pull it straight and then when it relaxes it will just make a little dip. It looks great. Super easy. Way less intimidating than it seems like it would be. So yep. Another kind of hot tip. I, and Mom does this too, if you feel like it’s going to be difficult to hold onto you can press it back with your iron ahead of time. So just putting your quilt down and pressing your binding away from the quilt top
Liz: Helps you to pull it around to the front.
Natalie: Yes, it gives it just a little bit of steam and pressure. And then when you’re folding it over the back, it’s just so much easier. Instead of fighting against it, it’s already there for you.
Liz: So literally a hot tip to press it back.
Natalie: Yes. Press your binding back. It just helps so much. It makes life so much easier.
Liz: Ok. Well we hope these have answered your questions about curves
and circles and bias binding!
