Binding a Quilt

I don’t like to play “binding roulette” with my quilt bindings.

So I lay the quilt on the floor and lay out the binding until I’m sure a binding join is not going to wind up at a corner.

I’m loving this rusty dark red color in this quilt and for the binding.

I also pin my label to a corner while laying out the binding–for me the bottom right corner though it doesn’t matter really, especially as quilts when used never stay in an “upright” position.

Before sewing the binding on the front of the quilt, I baste the label down at the quilt’s edges. I use an 8-inch square folded on its diagonal and pressed into a triangle. When I’m ready to hand-sew the binding on the back, I start with sewing down the top of the label on the back of the quilt.

My labels are “funky” by design. And I leave room on the label to be able to write a message to the recipient when I give a quilt away.

I chose the added name “Lovey Dragonfly Quilts” the summer we explored Maine (2003) before choosing to move there in 2004 because of the highly colored dragonflies which are everywhere in the summer, but are really dense around the many lakes. And “Lovey” is my grandmother name. I have never had any intention to make that name a business as I never wanted to have my creativity curtailed by someone else’s desires for pattern or color or size. My quilts make so so happy because I just let them happen. My quilts come from “play” for the most part, and that is what makes me the happiest.

Here’s a quilt (Traverse design by Tara Faughnan) and label that has been washed. I can still write on it if I need to. But this one is mine for now and is completely hand quilted via the “big stitch” method with thicker threads. It lives at the foot of my bed.

Just a bit of what I do with my quilting, for whatever that is worth.