Seamless Quilt Binding

Seams can be very ugly in bindings made of solid colors and smooth textures. Seams in bindings are also most unnecessary! The small quilt below, “Calligraph,” was bound in such a way as to eliminate any extraneous seams. The silk charmeuse binding lies smoothly with necessary seams only at the mitered corners.

The following brief, but thorough, free quilting lesson will teach you how to prepare and apply seamless bindings. The first step is to measure the sides of your quilt from one raw edge to the other. We assume, of course, that you squared your quilt properly, so the measurement of opposite sides will be equal.

Quilt ready for binding

To each dimension, add 1”. Cut two strips of fabric for each of those measurements, 1” longer than the quilt sides. Cut the width of the strips according to the following formula:

4 x finished binding width + batting thickness +1/4” Cut the strips on cross grain of your binding fabric if possible. If your quilt dimensions are longer than the binding fabric is wide, cut them on lengthwise grain. Cut all four strips on the same grain line. Pin the binding strips together in their correct relationships, long to short, short to long and so on. Have right sides together as if you were ready to sew the strips together. Place the pins a few inches inside the cut ends so you have room to draw on the binding ends.

Secure binding ends with a pin

Work with a fine tip pencil or other accurate marker. Draw a stitching diagram on the end of the binding strips as described and illustrated below. First, draw a short line through the lengthwise center of the topmost strip.

Mark the center line with a pencil

Then draw a line across the strip, 1/2” in from the end.

Mark the end of the quilt binding

Lay the corner of a ruler (a 6” rotary cutting ruler works well for this) over the intersection of the two lines. It should extend beyond the second line by about 1/8”.

Define the mitered corner

Now, let’s look at this intersection close up. The line in black should measure 1/4” if that is the thickness of your batting. If you are using thicker batting, lengthen this line by shifting the ruler to the right. Do not by shift the 1/2” seam allowance line to the left as that would take length away from the binding and make it too short to fit the quilt.

Seams will define the mitered corner

Draw the two 45 degree angle lines shown above, as well as the batting thickness line near the tip.The dashed lines in the sketch above show the thickness of the batting. You need not draw them on your strips, but you must remember that one half of the batting thickness lies on either side of the center line. Parallel to the center line, draw a small line on either side of it. These lines should be as far away from the center line as the width of the finished binding plus 1/8” (half of the batting thickness). They should also lie half of the distance between the long cut edge of the strip and the dashed lines shown above on either side of the center.

Mark seam ends

If you have done this step correctly, the intersections of the new lines and the 45 degree angle lines should be directly opposite one another on the vertical axis as shown below.

Lines meet at vertical axis

The last two lines you have drawn show you where to begin and end your stitching. You may now sew these two strips together along the black lines shown below.

Sew the mitered corner seam

Sew with a short 1mm stitch and thread to match the binding. Back-tack once at each end. Repeat this entire procedure for each of the four corners of your binding. Trim the sewn corners as shown here.

Trim the seam allowances

Do not turn the corners and do not iron anything yet. Instead, arrange the binding roughly as it will be sewn to the quilt, with right sides of the binding facing the quilt top. Pin each strip of binding in place. As you position the binding for pinning and sewing, make sure that the batting line, the little 1/4” bit at the tip of the binding corner, is aligned with the raw edge of the quilt. The seam allowance at the tip will extend beyond the quilt edge.

Align the tip of the mitered corner with the raw edge of the quilt

The excess binding lies below the gray diagonal line above, quite out of the way from where you will sew. Your sewing line now will be from the previous corner (top left out of sight here) into the corner shown above. Backtack to finish, and break your stitching as shown below.

Sew quilt binding along quilt edge to corner and backtack

Flip the corner binding fabric back onto itself, turn the quilt by one quarter and begin sewing the next strip into place. Begin with a back-tack.

Turn the corner and sew along the next quilt edge to the next corner

Sew the binding to the quilt face through all layers as described above on each of the quilt’s four sides. With scissors, nip away a tiny bit of each of the four corners of the quilt. This ensures that the seam allowance of the binding has room inside the binding to lie smoothly.

Nip off the corner of the quilt

Use a point turner to turn each corner of the binding. The binding will naturally roll over the raw edges of the quilt. Finger press the binding seams open at each corner. Pressing seams open is called ‘busting the seam.’

“Bust” the seams of the mitered corners

Fold the raw edges of your binding inward to meet the previous lines of stitching and sew them down by hand. Now you understand the concepts and you have learned how to prepare fabric strips for seamless binding. You may vary the procedure if you wish. You can sew the binding to the back of your quilt first, then turn it to the front and sew down the folded edges with a tiny zigzag machine stitch and matching thread. No other binding method could be so quick, so easy or so attractive!

Sew binding to quilt back, roll over front and zigzag

I hope you have enjoyed receiving this free quilt tutorial. If you have, please visit me at Quilt University to see what wonderful classes I have on offer there. I hope you will register for one or more of them, and that we will meet again – in class!

Dena Crain