Fabulous Freebies – Quilt Binding Resources and a Free Appliqué Pattern

Today is the fourth day of the Fabulous Freebies blog hop. Isn’t that Great!?! 

This is the hop where we get to tell you about our favourite online quilting freebies….. resources we have found or written in the past and still love now. And there are plenty of new freebies going around too! This generous hop is hosted by the very interesting, funny and talented Joan of Moosestash Quilting. If you are not already a regular at Joan’s you are missing out, not just on fun quilting banter, but her unique garden and her adorable kittens too. Do head over there once you are finished here!

My contribution to the Fabulous Freebies hop today is a post rounding up my favourite binding tutorials. And I have a new free appliquéd wall hanging pattern for you as well – to try out your new favourite binding on. It’s big enough to have a good honest try at a binding technique, small enough to finish! Create it in readiness for Fall (of course if you are in the Southern Hemisphere you have a LOT of time to get this done before next Autumn). Regardless, it is a fun cheeky design and I hope it gives you a smile.

That’d be better than Great. It’d be……

Binding your quilts

Binding a quilt is usually not the most exciting part of finishing a quilt – and it’s not a rare place for a quilt project to stall. So close, but yet so far! On the other hand, nailing the binding on a quilt is actually pretty satisfying, so let me help you find a binding method to suit you.

Here’s a quick run down on the most common options.

Traditional Binding

• machine sewn onto the front of your quilt and then hand sewn on the back. My go-to tutorial on this technique for many years has been Sharon Schamber’s Perfect Straight Binding video.
• If you prefer a written tutorial, Jaybird quilts has a good one here with a lot of the same content.
• I bind all my special quilts this way.

Machine Binding

• There are several techniques I like for machine binding a quilt, and it depends a lot on the final use for the quilt which technique I will choose. Cluck Cluck Sew has a good tutorial on machine sewn binding that gives a very neat finish.
• For toddler quilts and other quilts that are going to see a lot of use I like to use a top-stitched machine binding. Fast, furious and easy when it feels like a waste of time to fuss over perfection. I create this binding exactly like a traditional binding except I:
  • use 2.75″ strips to create my binding, a little wider than the generally accepted norm of 2.5″.
  • sew the binding onto the quilt as for a traditional binding except that I initially sew it onto the back.
  • use Elmer’s washable school glue to baste the binding in place on the front of the quilt. 

Then I neatly top stitch it down on the front. Easy. Fast. FINISHED! Ha! 

Here’s a tutorial very much like the method I use at Sarah Goer Quilts.

Single Fold Binding

This is a great option for binding small pieces and art quilts that won’t get a lot of wear and tear. This binding uses less fabric and has less bulk than traditional double fold binding. You can read more about my process for single fold binding in this post. The example shown is machine sewn, but you can hand sew single fold binding if you wish.

Fancy Bindings

Have you ever thought that you might be more motivated to finish a quilt if the binding was a bit different and interesting? Here are three suggestions:

• what about a flanged (piped binding)? This is a great way to add a little more colour to your project at the last. You can find a tutorial for a machine sewn flanged binding here at Sew Fresh Quilts. For show quilts though, I add the flange to the edge of the quilt first and then bind in the traditional manner.
• did you see my faux flanged binding on my “Shadows of Auntie Green” quilt? That turned out to be a fun way to finish a quilt. I wanted more colour at the edge of my quilt, so I embroidered along the seam where the binding and quilt meet with 12wt Lana thread.

• have you ever done or considered a prairie point binding? Do you know a good tutorial for this? I’d love to know – it is on my list of fun quilty things to try on day.

No Binding!

Of course, you can choose not to bind a quilt at all. You can face it for an invisible finish where a binding doesn’t seem right. Two options I like are:

• add an entire new back to the quilt after it is completed, also known as “bagging out” a quilt. The backing is sewn onto the front of the quilt, leaving a small opening. Then the quilt is turned right-side-out to encase the edges.  More quilting can be added to anchor the backing. You can find a good tutorial at here at Red Pepper Quilts. I used a similar method on my 70,273 commemorative quilt.

• add an invisible finish through a technique called “facing”. I have a detailed tutorial for facing a quilt here.

The front of this hot-pad quilt looks like this:

Just nice clean, rounded edges. No visible binding.

And since this is currently my method of choice in finishing off small table and wall quilts, that is how I decided to finish off my newest appliqué design. With a facing.

Would you like to make this for yourself? You can bind it however you like – why not try a method new-to-you? It finishes at a good hanging size of approximately 13.5″ by 27.5″.

You will need:

• The appliqué templates and layout guide (free download here).
  Note: the appliqué shapes are already reversed for you.
• A fabric background of about 15″ x 30″.
  I used Grape Juice Branches batik from Island Batik
• Fabric scraps for the words, pumpkins and leaves. My scraps are all of Island Batik fabrics given to me as one of their Ambassadors. Many of the fabrics on this quilt are from the Elementz collection
• paper-backed fusible fabric adhesive
• batting and a backing fabric
• fabric strips 2.25″ wide for the facing
• threads, sewing notions etc.

How to put it together:

• Assemble the layout guide provided in the download and cover with parchment paper (baking paper)
• Trace all the appliqué shapes onto fusible adhesive, iron onto your fabrics and cut out your shapes
• Fuse all the leaves and pumpkins into place. Use some artistic license and place the leaves and pumpkins however you want. There is more than one way to stack your pumpkins!
• Transfer your appliqués to your backing fabric
• Appliqué and quilt as you wish
• Trim your work, bind and hang

Enjoy!

And now….. more Fabulous Freebies…..

• Beary Colourful BOM right here on Clever Chameleon – 12 appliqué bears over 12 months. We are nearly up to bear #9, but it is not too late to join in.

I love to see and share these bears when you make them. Sunshine at Sunshine’s Quilting Addiction just got up to date with her fun versions of my bears. Thanks for sharing with us on Colour Inspiration Tuesday, Sunshine!

• Paper pieced Ghostly Ghouls at Made By Marney, also shared on Colour Inspiration Tuesday. Too Cute!

• And of course, all my other freebies, found summarised on this page here.