Have you tried this trend? This isn't anything new, but I've been seeing a lot more of it lately. Wide Quilt Binding is coming back! I'm not sure how I feel about it. You'll have to let me know what you think.
Overall the steps are the same as regular binding. I decided I wanted my binding to finish around 1" wide, so the first difference is squaring up your quilt. From the edge of my finished quilt top I trimmed ⅝" around the edge of the quilt. This distance will vary based on how wide you want your binding to finish on your quilt.
The next difference will be the width you cut your binding pieces. I cut mine 4 ½" wide, and then prepared it as you would normally for binding.
Next, you'll sew the binding strips on your quilt similarly to how you would normally. I aligned my binding with the edge of my quilt top, but looking back I wish I had actually giving this a little space. I would actually move the edge of the binding into your quilt top about ⅛-¼".
This next bit is a little tricky, but let the pictures guide you. When you get to the end of your quilt top at the corner, do a little back stitch to secure it. Then fold it back to create the 45 degree angle (similar to regular binding again). When you fold it back down you want to align that fold with the outer edge of the batting. Then start stitching at the end of that corner with a little back stitch and continue down that side.
Join the ends as you normally would to get the biased seem on regular binding. Overlap your two ends by the width of your binding. So, my two ends overlapped 4 ½" and then I trimmed it, joined it and finished the edge.
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After that, you'll want to press your binding over and around to the back side of the quilt. this makes the finishing quite a bit easier. I used a woven fabric for my binding and now that I've finished I'm wondering if a regular quilters cotton would have had more structure and come out looking a little more crisp. I pinned and clipped my binding to make the sewing easier. Hand stitch it down on the back side of the quilt.
The other thing I noticed is around on the front side - I had to do a little stitch down this corner as well. Otherwise it was gaping open a bit.
So what do we think? I like the effect and the added color it gives to the front of the quilt. I don't know that I love how mine looks but this was my first time trying this so maybe with more practice I'll like it better. I think the fabric I chose makes it a bit bumpy and the fact that it's so wide makes that more obvious. I love the front, but not so much the back.
I may try this even a bit wider and try machine finishing it as well to see how that looks. I'd love to see what you come up with! Give it a shot!
