Hi and welcome 😊 I hope you're enjoying (or tolerating) the August weather. Thanks for dropping by. Today I have a finished baby quilt. It's been in the works for a while and I finally stopped agonizing about the binding and just got it done!
Orange Scrappy Baby Quilt Finished
The quilt is made of scraps that I got from my DIL's mother. She made a lovely quilt for her granddaughter but didn't want the scraps (can you believe that? 😲) I was quite happy to oblige - there were some nice big pieces in there, enough for another baby quilt. You've seen me make it and FMQ quilt it and now it's done.
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| Finished and washed - Orange Scrappy Baby Quilt |
I made some very simple blocks, mostly the wonky snowball variety. My first post about this quilt was from July 2025, so it took a little longer than a year. Way to go me!😍
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| Glamour shot with the phlox |
It was nice this week so I took some glamour pictures in my backyard. You can see some of the good parts of the yard 😁.
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The very yellow scrappy backing of the quilt
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| The quilt in my favourite part of the yard |
As I mentioned above, I've been thinking about the binding for this quilt since I finished FMQ it in April of this year. Should I got with a yellow or another colour? I didn't have enough scraps from the quilt for a scrappy binding and the yellow backing is just too bright. Finally I decided on a brown and found the perfect one in my stash. It was the brown/orangish porcupine in the fabric that decided it. Let's face it, the binding needs to match something - so a cute porcupine will do.
Note - technical details that can be skipped!
Since I was in a learning mood (patient and curious), I decided to push myself to do a good machine binding. I've done them before but they weren't very good, so this was a learning moment. I used a 2¼" side binding (I'm adding this for my records.) I realised that I believed that the binding needed to be flush with the quilt fabric underneath it, with no extra space inside the binding. That's why the back of my binding was always wider than the front and couldn't be neatly stitched by machine. I'm not sure how clear this is, but I ended up lining the back of the binding just beyond the original front stitch line. This mostly worked. I did fix a few spots where I missed the edge of the binding but it was much better than I usually do.
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| Binding needs to slightly cover the stitch line |
The corners are not always easy to stitch, so when re-stitching it, I used a glue stick to keep the corner in place to stitch it. It worked wonderfully!
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| Gluing down the corner to stitch it well |
What I learned- When in doubt about the colour of the fabric to use for the binding, match an element of the quilt - it should work.
- Taking the time to think about how I was putting on the binding and what was going wrong helped me get better at sewing the binding by machine. It was time well spent. Hopefully I'll be able to practice and get better!
- The tip to myself for future machine bindings is to take my time and concentrate on each step.
- I'm hoping to spend some quality time in my studio this weekend and finishing the Rainbow Neighbourhood quilt. Then I'll be able to practice on another binding 😀
Related links
Linking partiesI'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check some out after linking below.
Design Wall Monday,
Sew & Tell, Put your foot down,
Off The Wall Friday,
Finished (Or Not) Friday,
TGIFF,
Beauties Pageant,
Monday Musings,
I Quilted This!
Welcome to the I Quilted This! linking party that celebrates quilting on a domestic machine or custom quilting on a long-arm. Feel free to link up and share any recent project, even if you're not quilting it!
Here are the posts that included FMQ, ruler work and walking foot quilting last week. Thanks for linking up 😊 and consider grabbing the button.
Gail of Quilting Gail made a test quilt based on Brenda's new pattern
Tilt-a-Whirl. You'll see Brenda's quilt below. Gail made her quilt in low volume colours. Gail used Silly Moon rulers Turkey and Charming to quilt it.
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| Gail's test version of Brenda's new quilt pattern, Tilt-a-whirl |
Vicki from Vicki's Crafts and Quilting quilted and
finished two quilts! The first is a pineapple quilt with large stippling while the other was made using a jelly roll and quilted with large freehand feathers. Check out these two beauties!
Brenda of Songbird Designs has a new pattern out for a new fabric collection. The quilt pattern is Tilt-a-whirl which you saw earlier.
Brenda also made this great
Funky Tulip runner which she quilted using FMQ and rulers. Brenda used the new fabric line. You may want to check out her post for more details.
It's now your turn 😍
It doesn't matter how long the baby quilt took to make, what is important is that it's a finish! You did a good job using the leftover fabrics from your DIL's mother. Definitely take your time to concentrate when machine binding, it's still faster than turning and stitching by hand. Happy stitching!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Gretchen. I should always be taking my time and concentrating when I sew but then I'd have to be in that kind of mood and that could take a long time coming :-) I'm sure that's why I prefer scrappy improv quilts! Take care.
DeleteThose scraps stitched into a wonderful baby quilt! What a great finish! A glue stick is a good plan for the pesky corners on the binding. . .I use a little Elmer's school glue and iron it dry. .it too works like a charm!
ReplyDeleteThanks Terry. I love how we all end up figuring things out our own way! As long as it works, not one would know. Have a great weekend!
DeleteCongrats on the finish!! I have been machine binding for many years, it did take practice but also setting the machine just right for it(moving the needle). I use 2.25" also and I use a ditch foot.
ReplyDeleteNot having left overs for a binding does present a bit of a problem. Looks like you found a very good choice. Congrats on the finish.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, persevering with that binding. I personally abhor machine binding. There should be elves for that who come in the night to do it for us, like that fairy tale about the shoe maker!
ReplyDeleteYou are a brave woman to attempt a machine binding. I've never given it a go. However, you have me thinking what if I used a decorative stitch or machine appliqué stitch? I do understand that it would work best the front binding and back binding need to be slightly different to avoid the back binding's stitch from showing on the front. Lots to ponder here.
ReplyDeleteSome little baby is going to be very lucky to get that lovely quilt. Congrats on finishing :)
ReplyDeleteI do just about all my binding by machine, Andree...mainly because I'm not a huge fan of hand binding! I do it a little differently from you in that I stitch it to the back of the quilt, then turn it and stitch the binding down on the front. It really helps me with mitering the corners too. Plus I use a 2-1/2" binding strip and sew it on the back with about a 3/8" seam. That gives me just enough to turn to the front to stitch down. Your phlox is beautiful in that glamor shot!! I know whoever receives this one will love it. Thanks for sharing about my pattern as well as my Funky Tulips table topper! I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for sharing with us at Monday Musings.
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