You’re SO close to finishing your Shattered Star Quilt!

With this being our final week together in the Shattered Star Quilt Along, I wanted to make sure to break down these finishing steps into more manageable bite sized pieces.

So, in Part 1, you tackled getting your quilt nicely squared up!

Doesn’t it feel good to see her all nicely trimmed and ready for her binding?!

And that’s exactly the next step we’re going to go over in today’s blog post – all things binding!

*This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission. 

LESSONS LEARNED TO DATE

Before diving into a new quilting technique, it’s always fun to check in and remind yourself just how much knowledge you’ve added to your quilt skill set:

Let’s add a couple more quilty skills to that stellar list!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO MAKE YOUR BINDING & ATTACH TO YOUR QUILT

For Week 8 of the Shattered Star Quilt Along you’ll need the following tools and notions to create the binding for your Shattered Star quilt:

HOW TO MAKE QUILT BINDING

By the time you’ve finished basting and quilting your quilt, it can feel like you’ve been working with the same quilt FOREVER! Ha! I get it.

Quilts really do take time to create, but this is the moment where you see her come to life! It’s like putting lipstick on after applying your make-up or adding a ribbon to your wrapped gift – it just completes the look and takes it from pretty to “holy, that’s quilterrific!”.

I’ve shared a full tutorial on how to create your binding and attach it to your quilt. You can read all about the Quilt Binding Tutorial: Part 1 – 10 Tips for Success here.

Today, I’m excited to share a video on how to make quilt binding!

Back in Week 2, I shared the tip to cut your binding strips while you cut the rest of your quilt pieces. I just find it more efficient, you’re already in the cutting zone and once you’re done with basting and quilting you might not be in the mood to go back and press and cut your binding.

Another tip is to sneak making your binding in at some point during the quilt top piecing phase.

Why?

Because once you’ve quilted your quilt, you already have your walking foot on your sewing machine. Which means you’re primed and ready to attach your quilt binding!

If your binding isn’t already made, you’ll have to change your presser foot, adjust your sewing machine settings, stitch your binding and then switch back to the walking foot and update your sewing machine settings again. That’s a lot of extra faffing that can zap your sewjo in a nano second.

So, make it ahead of time and have peace of mind knowing she’s sitting there just waiting to be attached 😊.

VIDEO – HOW TO MAKE QUILT BINDING STRIPS 

I filmed this early on in the Shattered Star Quilt Along and then promptly forgot I had filmed it for you! Thankfully, I didn’t lose the footage.

HOW TO ATTACH BINDING TO YOUR QUILT

Now that you have the ins and outs of how to make your binding strips, it’s time to attach it to your freshly squared up Shattered Star quilt!

This couldn’t be easier to tackle.

TIP

Make sure you have your walking foot on.

Can you tackle it without the walking foot?

Yes.

Does it give you the same results compared to when you use a walking foot?

No.

If you want to keep things from shifting at this point, I recommend attaching your binding with your walking foot on 😉

VIDEO – HOW TO ATTACH BINDING TO YOUR QUILT

See how to attach binding to your quilt, including the how to join the ends of your binding strips for a nice seamless finish – all in the following video. 

TOP TIPS FOR QUILT BINDING SUCCESS

Here are some binding tips I wish I knew when I first started:

Make it ahead of time! Don’t wait until your quilt is all quilted up to make your binding. This will mean you can go straight to attaching your binding once you’re done quilting (or get it back from your long armer!).

Mark your binding corners as you go! I’ve had several quilters reach out about how I get my binding corners so nice and my secret has always been to mark my corners as I go instead of marking ahead of time. Even if you’re using a walking foot, things can still shift. So, if you’ve pinned and marked where your corners go ahead of time, by the time you stitch up to it, things may have shifted and your markings no longer relevant. Blergh. Avoid all that extra work by marking as you get to each corner of your quilt.

Use your walking foot. It really does make a difference!

Enjoy this stage! Before you know it, your time with this quilt will be done and you’ll be moving on to your next quilt. So, savour this moment. Savour this time of seeing all your hard work come together. Enjoy petting those fabrics and feeling the quilty texture you’ve built into the quilt with your quilting. This is the moment where you get to really appreciate those details!

HOW TO FINISH YOUR BINDING

Once you have your binding attached to the front of your quilt, you have a few options on how to finish attaching your binding to the back of your quilt.

OPTION 1 – BLIND STITCH

The most classic and seamless way to finish off your quilt binding is by using a blind stitch. This takes a moment to accomplish, but the results are worth your time invested.

I’m going to start by saying I avoided anything hand stitched in my early sewing days, so when I say I absolutely LOVE this stage that comes as a big surprise to us both! I mention this to encourage you to explore this binding option. There’s a calmness that comes over you when you settle in for a hand binding session. And the best part is, you get to snuggle with your quilt and be up close with all the quilty details you snuck in there: your fabric, your piecing, your quilting – all elements to be admired!

See the full hand binding tutorial here. 

OPTION 2 – BIG STITCH HAND QUILTING

What I love about big stitch hand quilting is that it not only adds texture and detail to the back of your quilt, but, to me, this is the binding option that gives you the best of both worlds.

You can still settle if for some quiet meditative hand stitching, but it doesn’t take nearly as long as a blind stitch does. Which is why it has quickly become my all-time favourite way to finish off my quilts!

See the full big stitch hand quilting binding tutorial here. 

OPTION 3 – MACHINE BINDING

This is hands down the quickest method to attach your binding to your quilt. However, I personally don’t love seeing the stitches left from this technique. This is partly since my machine binding game is seriously lacking – ha! I’ve tried it a couple of times and really didn’t love how it turned out. No doubt with practice the results would get better. But those visible stitches bug me. That’s me. They may not bug you in the least. In which case, THIS is a brilliant method for you.

GIVEAWAY 

With the last week of the Shattered Star Quilt Along upon us I wanted to celebrate all your hard work with some more of my quilty faves from our Week 8 Sponsors: Martelli Notions and Cottoneer Fabrics! 

I had the Round-About Cutting Mat in my shopping cart for well over a year before I took the plunge and bought her and I kick myself for waiting so long. I shared my love for this quilty tool back in Week 3 when we were trimming our HSTs. I can't get through an HST trimming session without one of these! And I'm so excited for you to get your hands on one too. Martelli was super generous and included the ironing board too! 

Since it's safe to say you're a fellow fabric lover like me, I wanted to introduce you to one of my fave quilt shops Cottoneer Fabrics. I'm always tempted by the gorgeous textiles and bundles Andrea stocks in her family run shop. She's generously giving a $50 USD gift certificate for this week's giveaway!  

To enter the giveaway, you must:

• Be a Shattered Star QAL newsletter subscriber.
• Be following @martellinotions, @cottoneer and @shannonfraserdesigns on Instagram
• Post a photo on Instagram of your bound Shattered Star quilt between November 30, 2020 and December 6, 2020 at 11:59 pm.
• Instagram account must be public.
• Tag @martellinotions, @cottoneer and @shannonfraserdesigns
• Include the hashtags #shatteredstarquilt #shatteredstarqal

Week 8 giveaway is open internationally. 

For more quilt binding tips, check out:

Happy binding 😊

xo,

Shannon

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