Which are you? Do you prefer to sew your quilt binding by hand or by machine?
I was a “by hand” sewer but after getting great results like this, you can move me to the “by machine” group.
I did do by machine one of my smaller quilts. But hadn’t thought to try it on larger ones. I guess I just thought that was how it should be done. By hand. Until…
I watched a couple of You Tube video demonstrations on how to sew the binding for larger quilts by machine. They didn’t tell me to start from the bottom. I just figured that if I wanted only one row of stitching showing from the top, then I had better begin from the bottom.
I like that the width of the binding turns out wider on the top. And that I can get pointy points on top and bottom. When hand sewn, I could only get a good point on only one side.
For the thread, I used light beige in the top and dark brown in the bobbin. My tension must have been correct because the brown thread can’t be seen on the top.
The Front.
The Back.
It took less than a half hour to go around this 54″ by 54″ quilt. By hand, and as slow as I sew, it would have taken at least 3 hours. So, then, there is that. If possible, I plan to machine sew all of my quilt bindings from now on.
All finished. Moving this baby to the Completed Quilts page.
Which way do you prefer? And why? Do tell.
This Year's Dozen 
I do my bindings on things by machine, only because I don’t trust my hand sewing to stay together! lol
I still have foot in each camp. I machine sewed the bindings down on my first couple of quilts, then tried hand sewing on the next couple. Once I got started I found I quite enjoyed the hand sewing! The next one will be hand sewn. It’s not that big and with hand stitching I’ll be able to work on it away from home if I want to.
Your binding looks great Donna! When I first started quilting, I had no idea how to do the binding. I was lucky enough to go to a quilt shop that had a wonderful owner, and she sat down with me and showed me how to do it both ways. For almost all of my quilts, I sewed the binding by machine. It’s much easier and SO much faster. However, over the past year or so I’ve started sewing bindings by hand. If it’s a quilt that I’m making to be used and washed over and over again, I still sew the binding by machine. If it’s going to be a wall hanging, or a quilt that’s special, I sew the binding by hand.
Hi guys, thanks so much for your input.
Now that I have slept and my eyes are open, I can see the difference in hand sewing verses machine. That nice rounded edge I like is on the BACK. Oh well. And the front looks flat. Oh well. 😀 It sure was fast though.
Question for you, not that it will ever happen to me, but if you are entering your quilt into “something”, I guess they would frown on a machine sewn binding, eh?
I do both, depending on what I’m making. And all the quilt shows I’ve seen, bindings are done by hand. They are really picky about how you do a quilt. Some shows even require that you be a member of a guild. That’s not my cup of tea.
I kind of thought that would be the case. Thanks!!
I’m still, and always will be, a machine attach on the top and hand sew the backside.
I am in Ohio. And you know I HATE FB. 🙂
I am going to pass.