Binding your quilt takes just a few minutes at your sewing machine, but a little more time afterwards finishing up with handsewing. Even though the handsewing is time consuming, I like it. It’s the only part of the quilt that I can do in the living room, in front of the TV, at night with my husband. By the end of a project I always start to feel a little guilty about all the time I’ve spent in my craft room. And that’s almost it. We’ve covered pretty much every step you would need to complete your quilt top. Below you will find how to attach the binding and, in the next post, a little trick for adding your own tag. I hope you’ve enjoyed my posts and these first attempts at quilting over the internet. Thank you for all of the comments you have left along the way. I do want to send a special to Joelle at Jojo’ Gift Shoppe for posting all of my blocks and tutorials, and for all of your kind words of support.
Enjoy,
Nikki, In Stitches
Green Tonal: 1/2 yard cut into 5 strips 2 1/4″ x fabric length (approximately 42″) (Be sure to cut off selvedge edges.)
1. At one end of each strip, draw a diagonal line on the back of the fabric. Use the 45 degree line on your ruler as a guide.
2. With right side together, place the ends of two strips perpendicular to each other, sew on the drawn line. Cut away any excess fabric by cutting 1/4″ out from the sewn line.
3. Press your seams open.
4. Continue this process until all 5 of your strips are sewn together into one very long length of fabric. Press the entire piece in half, so now you have that same very long binding strip about 1 1/8″ wide.
5. At the right end of your binding strip, open the fabric. Fold the top right corner down, so that the short edge of the strip aligns perfectly with the bottom, long edge. Press.
6. Fold the binding strip back in half on your already pressed crease. Press again if necessary to keep fabric folded nicely in half.
7. About 10″ from one corner of your quilt, begin pinning your binding, aligning the rough edge of the binding strip with the rough edge of your quilt top. Leave yourself about a 4″ tail that we will use at the end of the binding process to hide the end of the binding strip.
8. Pin your binding strip all the way to the next corner of your quilt. With a 1/4″ seam allowance, sew along the rough edge, stopping 1/4″ from the corner. (You can see I mark my stopping point with a larger, yellow pin.) Back tack a few stitches to lock them in place.
9. At the corner, fold your binding strip so it is perpendicular to itself, and the tail is away from the body of the quilt. (The rough edges of the binding strip should make a continuous edge with the rough edge of your quilt top.) Place a pin just inside the edge of the quilt top to hold the binding in place.
10. Fold the binding strip back over on itself, so it is again running just along the rough edge of your quilt top. Sew along the this edge, being sure to back tack at the start a few stitches, and again, stop 1/4″ before the corner.
11. Repeat 8 through 10 around your quilt until you are back to the side you started on.
12. Place what it is left of your binding strip (the layers should overlap a few inches, so you may need to cut some excess off) inside the tail you started with, being sure that the rough edges are still nicely aligned. (The fold you made in Steps 5 and 6 will mimic the seams of your binding, and make your starting/stopping point invisible.) Sew along the rough edge to completely attach your binding.
13. Cut off excess backing and batting fabric.
14. Turn the folded edge of your binding over to the back of your quilt. Handsew the folded edge to the back, using your stitching line as a guide. (If you don’t have one, now is the time to get a thimble. By the time you get all the around this quilt, your fingertips will thank you!)
15. At the corners, hand stitch to within 1/4″ of the corner. Take a stitch or two in place to secure the binding and make the next step easier.
16. Fold the binding from the next edge over to make a mitered corner, and again, take a few stitches in place.
17. Continue all the way, repeating Steps 15 and 16 at each corner.
For other posts from Nikki, In Stitches related to the Relay Quilt, please see the following:
Let’s Start at the Very Beginning
Churn Dash – Your First Quilt Block
And For Your Second Block…A Card Trick
Third Times the Charm, or a Sawtooth Patchwork
Back to Blocks…4th: Gentleman’s Fancy?
Block Five: A Dove in the Window
Block Six: A Flower Pot…My Fave So Far
7th Block: Crow’s Foot…and You Can Actually See the Feet!
Block 8: Pinwheel and Squares….Don’t Be Afraid!
Rosebud: The 9th and FINAL Block!
tu travailles tres bien bravo ma belle
(Your work is beautiful. Bravo, my dear)
Love the Entrelac blanket! Sooo gorgeous! I want to try it one day, but I love this idea for making it a quilt. Just curios about the binding stuff. I don’t know much about sewing and even less about quilting. If i wanted to add satin, i would just sub it in for the tonal that is in this tutorial? And just minky facbric in the back?
Thanks
I’m so happy you like the blanket, Lauren!
Yes, if you’re going to add the satin and minky, you follow these exact directions, just sub in those fabrics.
A quick tip: your knit top with have some stretch to it. Use a lot of pins!
Let us know how it goes!
Nikki
This is my first Entrelac project. I am about 3/4 done with the knitting and I love it. It will be a gift for my next grandchild. Thanks Nikki
Yay, Cathy!!
I LOVE getting messages like this!
I’m so happy you love it and I know your grandbaby will love it!
XOXO
I have finished knitting the entrelac baby blanket but am having difficulty downloading the instructions on how to back and bind it are they on a PDF file or can you e-mail them to me I have followed the colours in the pattern and they are beautiful regards Ann ,
Ann,
I do not have a PDF of the instructions to back and bind your quilt that can easily be printed, but they can be found in the following posts:
How to layer your quilt and baste it together: http://www.nikkiinstitches.com/a-quilt-sambo/
How to bind your quilt: http://www.nikkiinstitches.com/bound-and-determined/
I use the same techniques for these knit blankets, as I do for my traditional quilts.
So happy you love the blanket!
If you have any questions after reading the backing and binding instructions, you know where to find me!
Hi there! I am attempting the entrelac baby blanket/quilt. I have finished the knitting portion and it is really gorgeous. I have never attempted a quilting or binding before and I’m having some real difficulty understanding the binding directions. I hope my questions don’t seem silly since they are really beginner questions i’m sure but I would really appreciate any help on this project, so here are my questions:)…
1. I understand that the silky fabric replaces the “green tonal” but are you supposed to do the silky edge before the minky backing?
2. If the silky goes first- i’m just having some trouble understanding how it looks finished- i guess i assumed the minky fabric was supposed to go first and then the silky ribbon binding would be last- am i just looking at this all wrong?
3. Also in the quilt samba directions – and this is probably silly- but will sewing the minky straight to the entrelac yarn blanket really work? Won’t it cause the thread from the sewing machine to just show all over the front of the yarn blanket? Or does the silky ribbon go over the thread?
I haven’t started this part of the blanket yet because i just feel like there is something i’m missing since i’m not a quilter at all and i would hate to ruin all of the knit work….any tips would be so appreciated!!
Desiree! A lot of people have questions at this part! Please don’t feel silly at all!
You are right…you attach the minky backing first! I lay it out on my floor, right side down. I tape it to the floor so it doesn’t move around on me.
Then I put my finished knit blanket on top.
I HAND SEW these layers together! Just in a few spots. I kind of make a grid and just take a few stitches at each point on the grid, knot my tread, cut it, and move to the next spot. This keeps the layers together!
Then I machine sew the silky binding on!
Please don’t be afraid to ask more questions! That’s what I’m here for!!!
I have two more rows and will be finished with the knitted part of the entrelac baby blanket/quilt. It is to be a gift for my first great grandson. If I am reading you right there are only two layers to this quilt; the knitted top and the minky back. Is this right?
In this case, ye, Katherine! Sometimes, if my knitted top is too thin, or you can see through it too much, I’ll add in just a layer of Cotten between.