Saturday, April 13, 2013

Binding my quilt

I found this excellent article on the merits of straight grain, cross grain and bias binding.  The whole article is well worth reading but the following really got my attention... it makes so much sense, yet never occurred to me.

"Bias binding will wear longer than straight binding so in a bed quilt that is getting lots of use bias might be the better choice. The straight binding will have only one or two threads actually on the edge of the quilt. These few threads in the fabric right on the edge of the quilt will wear faster. Bias binding has stretch and flow and moves at the edge and won't wear as quickly."


2 comments:

Sharon Kwilter said...

I used to bind my quilts with bias binding, but it wasted so much fabric. Now, I just use straight bias and if I have to, I'll rebind quilts in 20 years if my binding has worn out. =)

donaleen said...

Not that much more... for my quilt maybe one eighth yard more. And if you seam the straight grain correctly (which would mean cutting the ends on the bias..important for seam bulk) maybe not even more.

I do love working with bias... it is so fluid and easy to use. And fun to make, did I mention that?