In a Bind

I finished quilting this project around Thanksgiving. Actually, I finished telling the computer on the long arm machine how and where I wanted it quilted!  I am beginning to feel a bit more proficient in communicating my desires to the machine. 

Next step...binding. 

For the uninitiated, when you quilt the project by sewing a backing, batting (some folks call it 'wadding') and the quilted top (some folks call in a 'flimsy') together, the edges need be trimmed and bound together. 

My quilt is draped around 'Shirley', my roll of batting. It needs to be trimmed before I can bind it. 

The next step is to cut strips of fabric, often 2 1/2" in width and sew them together. To eliminate bulk the strips are sewn together at a 45 degree angle. 

When binding a quilt I press the long strip in half, sew the raw edges of the binding along the raw edges of the quilt, and then bring the folded edge up and over the quilt edge and secure it, by hand or machine.

My binding for this quilt was about 200" in length. I have adopted this technique to make that process of ironing it a bit faster. I use my silicone iron mat as a work surface. You might notice that Vickie decided to reshape the silicone mat! It still works for my purpose. (you can also use your ironing surface without a mat - but it might get scorched)

I fold a bit of the strip in half, and using a long pin I make channel slightly larger than the folded strip for to guide the strip across the ironing surface. I do this on each side of the mat. 

The hot iron is placed on the pad, covering the folded strip and I simply pull the strip from one side to the other, feeding the fabric into the pin channel on the right and pulling it out on the left. 

The result: A nicely folded and pressed strip of fabric that can then be used to bind the quilt. 

I can't take any credit for this nifty and quick way of pressing fabric strips. I saw it on the Internet  a few different times. Someone was ingenious!