Welcome to the Wyld Whirl Quilt Along! My name is Tawnee, and I am the owner of Wyldwood Creative. I’ll be guiding you through each step of making the Wyld Whirl Quilt. We’ll break it down into 7 parts and cover every single stage of the process, from selecting fabric to labeling and binding your quilt.
Week 7 Quilt Along Task
This is where it all comes together as we add binding and finish our quilts. Before we jump in I want to mention that binding is something that took me a loooong time to get looking good. Be gentle with yourself as you learn this new skill!
There are also a lot of different ways to attach your binding. We will be attaching to the front, folding to the back and stitching in the ditch. You can also attach it to the back, fold it to the front, and stitch the binding down from the front side. This will leave a stitch line on the back of the quilt. You can also hand-finish your binding for a seamless finish. So many options! I’ve tried them all and this is the method I prefer but you do you! Let’s get started!
Step 1: Cutting Your Binding Strips
I like to cut and prepare my binding when I cut all of my fabric. It’s like a nice little gift to your future self. Get the right tools ahead of time. If you didn’t already cut your binding, here’s how to do it:
Press your fabric. Fabric from the bolt is typically folded a little crooked, so don’t trust the cut from the fabric shop. Always give your fabric a good press before cutting.
Fold your fabric in half, selvedge to selvedge. Do your best to make sure the fabric is folded perfectly in half. A misaligned fold can result in binding strips that are not straight.
Use a ruler to make a straight cut along the edge, giving you a clean starting point. Rotate the fabric 10 degrees and cut your binding strips, working from the left.
Tip: Binding is typically cut 2.5” X WOF. If you’re a beginner, I recommend cutting to this size. If you have made binding before, I suggest trying 2.25” wide binding. I find that it gives a neater look and leaves less overhang from the stitch line on the back.
Step 2: Joining Binding Strips
Instead of joining your strips end-to-end, we’ll join them on the bias to avoid bulky seams:
- Place two strips right sides together, forming a right angle.
- Using your ruler and a marking tool, mark a line between the two corners created by the overlapping strips. Ensure that your line is oriented so that the excess fabric gets trimmed and not the strip you just sewed. This step is optional if you feel confident about your stitching skills. You can line up and stitch your pieces at the machine instead of marking and pinning beforehand.
- Using the chain piecing method, sew a diagonal line from corner to corner. Repeat until all strips are sewn together.
- Once complete, snip apart and trim to a ¼” seam allowance.
Step 3: Preparing and Pressing the Binding
Once your binding strips are joined:
- Press the entire strip in half, wrong sides together. This will create the double fold binding that will wrap around the edges of your quilt.
- Pay attention to the seams where you joined the strips. Press them open to reduce bulk.
Step 4: Trimming Your Quilt
Before attaching the binding, we need to trim the excess batting and backing from your quilt. Use your ruler and align it with the edges of your quilt blocks to ensure a clean, straight cut. I like to start in the middle of one side and work my way around. Don’t stress about your quilt being perfectly square. Once it’s bound and washed, no one will know.
Step 5: Attaching the Binding
Now it’s time to attach the binding:
- Pin the binding to the quilt, leaving a 10-inch tail at the start. This will allow for easier joining of the ends later. Before sewing, do a quick check to make sure the seam joins do not end up on one of the corners of your quilt. This will make it difficult to achieve a nice mitered corner later.
- Stitch the binding using a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Align the raw edge of the binding with the raw edge of the quilt. A walking foot will make this process smoother by evenly feeding the layers through the machine.
- Miter the corners: Stop stitching 1/4 inch from the edge of the quilt, pivot, and stitch directly off the corner.
- Turn the quilt 90 degrees. Fold the binding strip up against the diagonal line you stitched so that it is parallel to the side you are stitching it to. Then fold it back over, aligning the fold with the top edge. Start the new line of stitching about ½” away from the edge, backstitch until the needle is in line with the stitch line from the previous side. This will be ¼” away from the edge. Be careful not to backstitch all the way to the edge.
- Continue stitching the binding on, leaving a 10-inch gap between where you started and where you finish. This will allow space to join the two ends.
Step 6: Joining the Binding Ends
There are a lot of methods and tools for this step. I’ve tried them all! This has been the easiest to understand and remember for me, but definitely try other methods if this one doesn’t make sense for you.
To seamlessly join the binding:
- Trim a 3-4” piece of your binding from the excess. We’re going to use this as a measuring tool.
- With the bulk of the quilt oriented away from you, lay the left binding tail across the gap, open the trimmed piece of binding, and lay it in the center of the gap. Lay the right tail across. The trimmed binding piece should now be sandwiched between the two binding tails.
- Trim the right strip to the left side of the binding piece. Fold it back and trim the left tail to the right side of the binding piece. The two tails should be overlapping the width of the binding.
- Open the tails and bring them together for a “kiss,” align the corners, and pin in place.
- Stitch from corner to corner as you did for the other binding strips.
- Finger press the seam open and finish stitching the binding to the quilt.
Step 7: Finishing the Binding
Now that the binding is attached, it’s time to fold it over to the back of the quilt:
- Press the binding away from the front, which helps the fabric fold neatly around the edge.
- I like to use Elmer’s glue to tack the binding in place. Run a small bead of glue between the stitch line and the raw edge of the quilt. Fold over the binding and press to set the glue and hold it in place. Be careful not to pull the binding too far over; you want it to just barely cover the stitch line.
- This is a great time to add a label if you would like the edge to be encased in the binding. You can also hand stitch a label once the quilt is complete.
- At the corners, pull one side flat and give the corner a good crease. Using a pin aligned with the edge, fold the binding over the pin to create a nice mitered corner.
- Once the binding is tacked in place, stitch around the entire quilt, stitching in the ditch between the binding and the quilt. Go slow and take your time—this skill takes a lot of practice to perfect! Stitch over your starting stitches to secure.
- Once stitching is complete, check over the binding on the back to ensure it got caught by the stitch line. If it didn’t, you can go back and stitch that area again or hand tack those areas in place.
Step 8: Admire your finished quilt!
You did it! You made a quilt! For me personally, a quilt isn’t truly complete until it’s been washed. Washing gives the amazing quilt crinkle and washes away any little mistakes. I wash mine on warm with just a little soap and tumble dry until just damp, then lay flat to finish drying. If you’re worried about any of your fabric bleeding, you can toss in a couple of Shout Color Catchers to catch any dye bleed.
I made this quilt for my cat Stella. She promptly took a nap on it after presenting it to her, so I think it’s safe to say she likes it! I am so happy with how this quilt turned out, and I can’t wait to see all the Wyld Whirls you’ll create!
I hope you had as much fun following this quilt-along as I did creating it. If you don't yet have your fabric and tools, shop our store! Don’t forget to share your finished quilt on social media and tag us – we’d love to see your beautiful work!
Happy sewing!
PS - If you are by chance coming across this blog post first, please head to the Wyld Whirl page to see all other blog posts in this series!
Week 5: Assembling the Quilt Top
