Flange Bindings

There are different ways 

to finish a quilt.

This week I've been 

finishing a couple quilts 

using a flange binding

or sometimes referred to as 

a faux piped binding.

It's a great way to get a binding

finished by machine and a great way

to add a pop of color around the edge.

It's a fun look.

There are many good tutorials online

if you'd like to know more of the details.

It requires two different strips of fabrics,

one for the flange and one for the binding.

The flange is cut 1/4" larger than the binding.

I like a narrow binding, 2 1/4", so I

cut the flange 1 1/2" and the binding 1 1/4".

When the binding strips are sewn together

and pressed in half, it creates an 1/8" flange of color.

This binding is sewn on the backside of the quilt

and then turned to the front.

To finish the binding, it's sewn

in the ditch between the flange and the binding.

 Here is the baby quilt I was machine quilting.

It's a simple panel that required

just some quilting around the main animals.

Adding the flange, was a simple way
 to accent one more color  

without being overwhelming or 

adding another border.

Plus the binding was all done on the machine.

Perfect for a donation quilt.

****

The second quilt is from Sue Spargo's

free pattern, Instastitch, found on her website.

I finished it finally last week,

machine quilting in the ditch between 

most of the pieces.

Indigo Blue

2016-2018

This quilt turned out to be basically a two color quilt,

indigo and cream 

with a small amount of color and texture from the embroidery.

Adding the cream flange helped to give the quilt a crisp edge.

I had to use a bright backing to 

compliment the delightful embroidery on the front.

***

The final quilt with a flange binding

is a group quilt for a friend.

Grey can be the modern neutral and

was a wonderful background for the 

batiks and bright prints.

With the grey border and grey binding, I added

the raspberry batik flange

to cause the eye to stay in the center of the quilt 

and to add a last sparkle of color.

I think it's the perfect accent.  

It's fun to try new things.

This is a easy technique to add an accent of color 

and a wonderful way

to finish a binding completely by machine.

Give it a try.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

I Wish I could Say....

I wish I could say,

I didn't have much to show you this week

because. . . 

I was on an African safari,

I had been sunbathing on some beautiful tropical beach,

or had impulsively joined the circus.

Unfortunately, nothing that exciting.

So instead,

I've been slowly working on

machine quilting a simple panel for a

baby quilt

Appliqueing my blocks for Christmas,

sewing a backing using leftovers,

and playing with some vintage hst's for my next doll quilt.

I just wanted to let you know

I've been sewing

and we'll see what I have done next week.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Wild Geese

I've always admired 

antique doll and cradle quilts.

found on Pinterest

Their humble patterns and

the irregularity of stitching give us

a tiny glimpse into the makers.

Was it sewn with

young hands learning to hold 

 needle and cloth or

older hands, stiff from life

 lovely sewing a small quilt for someone special?

Wendy, the Constant Quilter, issued a challenge to herself

and anyone else who wanted to join in the fun,

 to make one small quilt a month.

No rules, no pressure.

Whatever path you wanted to take.

How hard would it be to make one

small quilt each month?

Well, it was definitely fun,

but more challenging than I thought.

I decided to try and reproduce

one of the many doll or cradle quilts

I'd been saving on my Pinterest board.

Here is the original quilt 

someone pinned from 

Stella Rubin's Antique Quilts.

The funny thing after I started this, I

saw Temecula Quilts was making it

their mini of the month as well.

Too funny, but definitely a sign

I was going to have fun with my first challenge.

I had no problem looking through

my stash for similar fabrics.

I wasn't sure if the tan was originally tan

or a fugitive color.

It didn't matter. I decided to go as is.

I drafted the pattern

the size I wanted it to be.  

The challenge came

trying to be more liberated in my sewing.

When you spend years trying to

perfect your sewing skills and 

then to try and be more free or loose, it wasn't as easy

as you'd think.

Here's an example

of my flying geese.

I roughly cut rectangles close to the same size,

used large triangle pieces for the background,

and came up with some good variations.

I set the rows of geese together 

without measuring

and laughed when it came out so close to

equal measurements on the opposite sides.

When I try hard, that doesn't always happen!

I handquilted it with

a small cable in the rows as well as

 the outer borders and then

 around each flying goose.

This really was a fun project.

Wild Wings

17" x 26"

New and old side by side.

Thank you, Wendy, for the mini

monthly challenge.

I hope to be trying it again soon

with another antique doll quilt.

Check out Wendy's blog, to see her

first mini and also

Barbara's blog to see what she made. 

Time to join in?

Until Next Time-

Kyle