Mishegaas...

I do love funny-sounding words. 

And so you know, "mishegaas" means foolishness, insanity, senselessness.  Which sort of suits the randomness of some of what you'll find here this time around.

I would like to thank everyone for the wonderful comments to "My perfect quilt..."  It's a big soapbox and I'm glad there are so many of us that are like-minded when it comes to perfection... it's a very nice goal but not I'm not going to make myself crazy about it when there are other more important things to concern myself with.

Like the UPS man...

I've told you about the lovely boxes I sometimes get from Ted... well, I probably should have mentioned that when it comes to anticipation, excitement and I-just-can't-stand-it-eagerness, Ted-boxes rank a very-distant second behind those from Dottie, Gracie and Sarah.

Rosie gets so excited, her hair actually curls...

(Sorry, I just love that little curl on the back of her leg.)  :)

Do you know Sarah, Dottie and Gracie?  They're from Kansas City...

 

I would rather have a little Simple Abundance or some Rouenneries but Rosie prefers this...

 

Dervish... another funny-sounding word that comes to mind right now... can't imagine why.

But the cookie jars have been replenished so all is right with Rosie's world... perfection attained somewhere!

Sweet Tea!  I should have a picture of it for you by the end of the week as the quilt top is at the printer getting photographed.  I think we're going to be able to do a little computer-magic for the binding so the pattern won't have to wait until the quilt is quilted.  If everything goes well, that pattern should be finished by late July. 

The first step to producing the little bit of computer-binding magic meant getting the quilt binding made now instead of later.  So I decided I would tell you about how I like making scrap-bindings.  No, there isn't any magic involved, just a few personal preferences.

Before I start, can I say one thing about bias vs. straight-of-grain bindings?  I don't think one is better than the other, I think most of us do the one that we first learned and that we're most comfortable doing.  There are times when one is preferrable to the other ~ scalloped edges on the quilt, working with a stripe or plaid binding fabric, etc. ~ but so long as everything else is done well, both work equally well.  In my opinion, of course.

That said, it's a whole lot more efficient to do a scrap-pieced binding with straight of grain strips.  If nothing else, you use less fabric and you can use leftover strips from the quilt top.  Sham-Wow!  What an amazing idea!

So start with a whole bunch of strips you want to use for your binding ~ probably leftovers from the quilt top...

 

Sorry about the picture... bad lighting, late at night, needed to get the picture taken so I could get the binding pieced!

I like to use shorter length strips ~ about 10" to 11" ~ when I do a scrap-pieced binding.  Because I usually use a pretty wide range of value and color, I think the shorter length strips work best.  Por quoi?  Because it means those strips that are on the ends of the value spectrum ~ the darkest and the lightest ~ aren't as distracting as they might be if they were longer.  There are definitely going to be times when you'll make a design-choice that will warrant longer strips, but with a really scrappy quilt with lots of little pieces, I prefer the shorter lengths.  For the Sweet Tea binding, I used a half-strip from the strip I cut from the fat quarters ~ 2" x 21".

On a side note, when I'm trying to figure out how many strips I'm going to need to fit my quilt, this is how I calculate about how many strips I'm going to need.  My quilt top measures 73" x 73".  That means I need a minimum of 292" of binding ~ or 300" to include the fold for the miters and something for my final seam allowance.  Since most of my strips measured 10 1/2" before cutting the angle, I will divide that 300" by 8".  That gives me a little bit of extra to work with ~ always a good thing.  So I will make a binding strip that uses at least 38 of my scrap strips. 

The next step is to cut the ends of the strips at a 45-degree angle ~ and I would recommend that both ends are cut in the same direction...

  

And then comes the fun part... piece every single strip individually.  Okay, the fun part is randomly deciding what to put next to what ~ and I vary this by color, scale of print, value, what's on the top of the stack, etc.   

 

Chain piecing is a good thing...

 

When you've got all the strips pieced, this is what you'll have...

 

Cut the threads between the seams... press the seams open... and then fold the binding in half and press. 

 

Trim those little "ears" and you're all set... except that I like to roll my binding...

 

OCD?  Not me.  :)

The one thing to warn you about... if you use the shorter strips that I prefer, you're going to have a lot of seams in the binding to deal with.  This is one of those times when it is very advisable to pin the binding to the quilt top before you start stitching lest you wind up with a seam in each corner.  You don't have to completely pin it, just kind of loosely pin-baste it to see when the seams are falling and adjust accordingly.

All this hard work deserves a treat, don't you think?

Rosie thinks so... :)

Comments

[Donnelly]

I did my first scrappy border just this last week! They are fun. I also rolled mine. I thought it looked like candy after it was all rolled up. I like the 45 degree cut that you talk about. I didn't do that, but it makes sense. Thanks for sharing.
Have a great day!

[Nancy Anne]

I had to chuckle. When I get done making binding, trimming the ears and pressing it, I always roll it into an oval shape! I have no idea why, but I like it that way so I do.

[Kathy]

Great tutorial on the pieced bindings. I've been using them for years, but never took time to figure it all out...just cut and pieced till I had enough! You DO like the math part of quilts, don't you?!

And, I can pin and fuss, and usually STILL come up with a seam near a corner! Grr...hard to miter those, so have to go back and resew the seam.

But I LOVE the look.

Thanks again.

[Christiane]

Thanks for that great binding tutorial.

[dotti white]

Wow...Thanks for the tips on the scrappy borders. I love the look! Give Rose a pat for me! She is definitely a keeper!

[Judy in Michigan]

Thanks for the great tips. I love the scrappy binding too.

[Renee E]

I would love to try a scrappy binding on my next quilt! Great info!!