Today we’re finishing our Ultimate Beginner Quilts. Yippee! Adding the quilt binding is the very last step to complete this beautiful beginner-friendly quilt. In today’s tutorial, Kimberly Jolly will show you how to trim up your quilt and attach the binding. Learn techniques for putting together binding strips, squaring up your corners, and finishing the binding by hand for a beautiful finish.
The Ultimate Beginner Quilt is a free quilt pattern series with video tutorials designed just for beginners. Even if you have zero sewing experience, this is the free quilt class for you! If you’re joining us for the first time, catch up on the previous blocks and then come back to join us!
Download the FREE Binding Tutorial
This is the last step, but it does take some time, so grab a cup of tea and dig into the tutorial. We’ve included all the details in the video, but you can use the timestamps in the description box if you’d like to skip ahead to key points.
If reading this in email, click this link to watch the video.
Make the Binding Strips
Today we’re starting with our quilted quilt top and the 2.5” strips we made in this video.
If reading this in email, click this link to watch the video.
Square up Your Quilt
If you quilted this yourself on your home machine, you’ll need to trim off the batting. If you’d like a taut binding, leave an extra ¼” of batting around the edge of the quilt. Another option that many quilters use is to trim the quilt along the edge of the quilt top. This is a very common way to trim the quilt and works just fine. It’s all a matter of personal preference. Either way, you’ll stitch the binding on with a ¼” seam relative to the edge of the quilt top.
Add the Binding
There are several options for adding binding. In this tutorial, Kimberly shows one of the most common techniques: sew the binding on the front of the quilt by machine and finish the stitching by hand on the back of the quilt. There are several other binding techniques, including adding it on entirely by machine! For more information, check out our full YouTube Playlist of Binding Tutorials.
Before you finish your binding, or after you’re done, you can add a quilt label if you like. Making a quilt is a BIG accomplishment, and it’s a work of art! Some information you might put on a quilt label is your name, date completed, the name of the quilt, the city where you made it, who the quilt is for.
Quilt Care
You can wash most quilts in a delicate cycle on cold or warm water and tumble dry low. Drying your quilt will shrink it and give it a crinkled finish.
Although most high-quality quilting cottons are colorfast, if you haven’t pre-washed your fabrics or are unsure if the colors will bleed you might consider adding some Shout Color Catcher Dye-Trapper Sheets (or similar product) to the first wash. If colors run in the wash the sheets will trap the extra dye, preventing the light colors from getting discolored. A PFD (prepared for dye) white solid is one that more readily takes up dye, so you would want to exercise caution there. And fabrics that are red, purple or very saturated might tend to run on the first few washes so use those Color Catchers!
Let’s see what our wonderful FQS staffers made this week. They’ve all come a long way with their piecing skills and it shows! Click on the photos below to enlarge the images.
We have some awesome quilty friends quilting with us!
Check out their blogs and follow them on social media for inspiration and tips.
| Pat Sloan | Mister Domestic | Brittany Clark |
| Gina of Thread Graffiti | Tracie of Riceford Streams | The Real Housewives of Cross Stitch Priscilla & Chelsea |
| Karin of Blue Pip Designs | Linden of vinelines | Rebecca of OneWeeBird |
| Ange of A Little Patchwork |
Keep up with The Ultimate Beginner Quilt Sew Along!
Thank you so much for joining us for The Ultimate Beginner Quilt Sew Along! Follow us on Facebook, and Instagram, and share your progress on Instagram or Facebook with #ultimatebeginnerquilt and #myfirstquilt, or comment on our blog or video with your quilting questions.
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If you’re ready to start a new quilt, check out Shortcut Quilt Tutorials. These free quilt patterns start with precuts so you can get sewing fast!
Happy Quilting!
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2 comments
the link to the FREE Binding Tutorial pdf (FQS-BindingTutorial.pdf) is 404-not found.