I mentioned the other day that it took me a long time to get around to getting quilts bound.

I think that's because, although it's the last, finishing, step, it's also the least interesting step of quilting.

First, you have to make the binding: cutting long, 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 wide strips of fabric (I usually use straight-of-grain binding. I know some people prefer bias binding - some think it lasts better - but it's enough extra work that unless I want a spiral effect using striped fabric or something, I'm going with straight-of-grain.)

Then you sew all the strips together. Then press the binding (I use what's called "French binding," it's a double-thickness of fabric. NOT like the bias tape they sell at fabric stores.).You press it so the wrong sides are together - there's a folded edge and a raw edge

Then you have to pin the binding on, so the raw edge is against the raw edge of the quilt:



Then you have to wrestle the quilt under your sewing machine and sew the raw edges of the binding to the raw edge of the quilt:



(You can see the old "workhorse" Kenmore I use in that shot. It's a mid-70s era machine that doesn't do much that's fancy, but I love it because it requires little maintenance and it's not fussy. The machine is a portable; I have it set on an old desk - my desk when I was a tiny child - that I repainted sky blue with an attempt at impressionistic clouds on it)

Then, once the binding's all sewn on that way, you need to fold it around (so the raw edges are all inside), and sew down the folded edge on the back of the quilt:



(I'm still working on sewing this one down. It takes hours. And I'm not a particularly slow hand-sewer.)

But, it's a step that needs to be done, before you can call the quilt truly finished.



(I finished sewing down the binding on the Tumblers quilt yesterday afternoon.)

Here's a closeup. It's not a perfect match, the pink, but I think it's good enough: