Please share tips for binding

[dz_blonde_girl]

I have some kind of binding deficit. I did some on my very cool new machine yesterday that came out lots better than any I ever did on my old machine, but it still came out less than perfect. Give me some tips, I'm missing something. TIA

[paelthom]

Karen,
Sorry no tips here. I find binding to be very difficult as well. For me if it works best if I hand stitch it in place before I machine sew it. Hope someone posts some great tips for you. Hang in there and keep on trying.

[dz_blonde_girl]

Thanks Pat! I'll try basting it with the machine first so I can adjust it before stitchng.

[SewCrafty]

Binding on what? What type of project are you working on and how wide is the binding?

[dz_blonde_girl]

Sorry dee, I didn't see your reply. I just went to the end of the apron tutorial to check how you did it there. Pretty slick! I was doing some potholders. I think the thickness of the batting was throwing me off. Any ideas?

[SewCrafty]

After you sew in the batting, trim all excess batting out of the seam allowance. You can take it right down to the stitching on the seam. Just the batting though, you can't do that with fabric as it ravels.

[dz_blonde_girl]

Thanks Dee! I'll give it another shot!

[SewCrafty]

Another thing Karen, what size needle are you using? For the basic sewing of cotton material you should use around a size 11, but once you get into so many layers you can change it to a 14 or so. That will help you get through the layers too.

**Edited** Oh and when you use a larger needle make your stitch length longer too, So instead of 10-12 stitches per inch with an 11 needle you would want 6-8 stitches per inch with a size 14 needle.

The key is to remember to change it back to the 11 when you are done. Something I usually forget until it puts holes in my fabric.