Easy Binding Joining Tip & Tutorial

A few weeks ago I shared a video link that I had found on Pinterest. It is a video showing how to quickly and easily join your binding strips together. I have tried several times using all the different options out there with no success. The video was shot and someone reversed which might be confusing for some to follow. Positive that I would be one to be confused, I decided to write up a quick tutorial. Many photos ensued. Hopefully, this might help someone follow the technique more easily. An added bonus is that my friend, Kathleen, hosts a Tips & Tutorials linky party on the 22nd of each month. I will be linking this up on her website!

Binding Video

Here is the inspiration video that is from Pinterest. You can easily tell that it was recorded backward just by looking at the screw for the needle. That is always pointing toward the inside area of the sewing machine. Also, most people sew with the majority of the fabric on the left side as opposed to the right side that is pictured. That is confusing, right?

Binding Joining Tutorial – 13 photos

Start your binding the way you normally do, right sides together with a tail as long as the width of your binding or more. In this example, I used a 1.5″ binding strip and the starting tail is about 3″ long. Be sure you backstitch at the beginning, which is something I normally do as well. One other note – I should have trimmed my piece as it would normally be squared up before adding the binding. That would make the whole process less bulky.

Continue around your piece as you normally do. Nothing is different until you are approaching your starting point.

I added a pin to mark my exact starting point. I slowly stitched to the pin, although in the following picture, you can plainly see that I needed to make two more stitches. It is difficult to see where to stop! This is one of the cases where practice makes perfect. The third time I tried this technique, I nailed the stitching right up to where I began.

After back stitching at the end, cut the threads and check how close your pieces meet. You’ll see in a later picture that although there is a slight gap in the binding here, it doesn’t impact the finished product one bit.

Binding Twisting Time

Now it’s time for the magic to happen or the key part of this tutorial. By the way, my binding strips were way too long and should have been trimmed shorter.

Lay one binding strip over the other, right sides together as if you were making bias tape. I do not think it matters which one is on top as I think I’ve tried it both ways. The key is to get these two strips perpendicular to each other and laying nice and flat. Wrestle that quilt piece however you need to get it to be submissive.

I added a pin which is completely optional, and I also drew a line to sew on. The idea is that you start stitching in the corner where the two binding pieces meet and sew toward the back-stitched stitching line. Feel free to eyeball the stitching line! I tend to wobble about if I don’t have a line to follow. On my first attempt, I didn’t have the quilt piece tucked out of the way where the pinhead is. Even though it got stitched into the binding, it had no impact on the finished look.

Binding Almost Finished

Once you’ve finished stitching the line, cut your threads and pull the piece from your machine. As you can see, I backstitched at the start and finish of that short line. Admire your work! Go ahead and trim the sewn line to a quarter-inch. Get ready because you’re almost finished!

Here is where the two stitches that I need to close before starting to twist the binding ends comes into play. See that little itty bitty gap? It’s not a huge deal but it is not perfect. Instead, don’t worry about that and look how cool the binding joining seam looks. Pretty sweet, huh?!

Binding Taking it on Home for the Win

At last, you’ve made it to the finish line and the last two photos.

On the left is the wrong side joined binding, while on the right is the front of the quilt and its finished binding. The little gap is minimal and if this cradle quilt was going before a jury, they would point that out. Alas, this piece is going to be loved by a young man as a holiday gift. I’m pretty sure he won’t notice.

One last look at the finished cradle quilt. I hope this tutorial will help you and allow you to give this technique a try. I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments.

♥ ♥ ♥

Check our sidebar for our Linky Parties page on our website for more quilting fun. Like/follow us on our Facebook page and our Etsy shop to see what we’re up to. I’ll also be sharing updates on Instagram.