Mitered Binding

Take the Mystery out of Mitered Binding

Step 1

Cut 2.5″ strips of fabric. Place the ends of two strips face down on top of each other, draw a diagonal line, and stitch along the line as shown. Cut away excess fabric at .25″ seam allowance and press seam open.

02

Take the connect strips to the ironing board. Fold the starting end over diagonally and press. Then, fold the entire strip of binding in half and press.

03

Lay the starting end of the binding strip along the raw edge of the bottom right corner. This is where I like to start. Begin stitching about 2″ below the diagonally folded edge, as indicated in the photo. Using a walking foot, stitch just over a .25″ seam along the raw edge of the quilt, as indicated in the photo. Backstitch to hold the beginning of the stitch line if preferred.

04

Stitch to the corner of the quilt. Stop .25″ before the edge. On the Bernina walking foot, there is a groove indicating the .25″  mark where you would stop. I have pointed this out in the photo. Back stitch to hold the stitch in place.

05

Turn your quilt to sew along the next side. Fold the corner of the binding on itself as shown in the photo. Begin stitching .25″ from the corner, backstitching the start in place, and sew along the raw edge as before. Do this for every corner and side of the quilt until you meet up with the starting point.

06

As you approach where you started, pause stitching. Cut the binding strip so that it ends just before your beginning stitch line. Place the end of the binding strip inside the diagonal fold created at the beginning. Tuck it in place, and continue stitching through all layers until you over lap stitching from where you started. Back stitch and cut threads.

07

Trim corners as shown to reduce bulk.

08

Binding clips!

Binding clips are one of my “Must Have” quilting supplies. Clip them on, flat (clear) side down all the way down the side edge you are stitching on. Be sure the binding is folded over the original stitch line.

09

Line your needle up with the “ditch” where you sewed on the first part of the binding, as illustrated. Stitch all the way down the side of the quilt, removing binding clips as you go. Periodically flip the edge over to ensure the binding covers the original stitch line, see photo.

10

Sew until you reach the .25″ mark. Backstitch and stop.

11

Now, flip the binding over at the corner. The mitered corner should naturally fall into place with some careful finger pressing. Use a binding clip to hold in place until you flip it over and stitch.

12

Now, begin stitching in the ditch again starting directly in the corner and backstitching to hold it in place, as illustrated. I’m not going to lie: This is the tricky part. Be sure to check behind yourself. After stitching a couple of inches, turn over to make sure you caught the corner. With the bulk in the corner, sometimes it doesn’t catch the first time and you will have to fold more purposefully and try, try again.

13

As you approach where the two ends of binding are joined together, simply stitch as normal until your stitching overlaps with where it began. Backstitch and clip threads. You will not need to hand stitch down the diagonal fold pointed out in the picture. It will stay in place and no one will notice.

14

Congratulations on your perfectly folded mitered bindings!