I have a love/hate relationship with binding projects.

I love it when binding a quilt goes well; by some miracle, the corners look near to pointed and the binding is nicely sewn all the way around the quilt.

I hate it when binding a quilt looks like complete muck - the corners are a mix of rounded and squashed and the grand plan to machine finish the binding made one side look great but the other look AWFUL!

Case in point: the picture below shows what I would consider a near-perfect corner.

And now for the other side:

Yes, that’s the same corner but the reverse side - just awful!

Machine Binding vs. Hand Binding

I have scoured the internet for tutorials and helpful guides to find a way to get my machine binding to be acceptable enough to pass as pleasing and goodness knows, there are plenty of them. Usually, the tutorial will walk you through the step-by-step process and then joyfully show you the end result, with one tiny little exception: they rarely show both sides of the binding or the project was the size of a mug rug!

Sure, the front side that you have just machine stitched looks immaculate, but did it catch the binding on the other side? Sometimes people will show the other side and there will be places where the stitches didn’t catch and those are the videos I hold in higher esteem because that’s usually a more realistic outcome if you’re working with a large quilt. If a video is showing binding on a placemat, that is usually perfect because the seamstress isn’t fighting a large bundle of bulk fabric through the arm of a sewing machine!

I would love to be able to completely machine bind a project, be it a quilt or wall-hanging, and have both sides looking wonderful. The only way I find I can do that is to machine stitch one side and then hand sew the other side. While that method is more time-consuming, I find I am much happier with the results. I know the binding will never be absolutely perfect but I’d love to get just a little closer than I am right now.

Asking for a friend!

Another method I have seen that I am considering doing is flange binding. For those who may not have come across this term, it means there are two strips of binding sewn together along their lengths to create a two-toned binding. This method could potentially help with the issue of the ‘did-the-stitches-catch-on-both-sides?’ issue that I have but I have to do more research into how it actually works! It does look very pretty once it’s completed but I wonder if that helps with a cleaner looking binding?

The methods I have tried are:

using a bias press to create the binding, hand stitching all the way as it’s usually a pretty tight fit based on the strips being 2.5” in width.
folding my 2.5” strips in half and stitching the raw edge 1/4” from the edge of the quilt before folding over. Again, I find this a snug fit and I’m usually battling with the corners.
stitching the unfolded raw edge of the binding (without being folded over) to the quilt then folding over and folding under. This method does give pretty good mitered corners but it leaves one side of the binding looking shorter than the other side (see above pictures!).
I have snipped corners off the quilt to be able to get a good point but I seem to get squishy corners :(

Of all the methods I have tried, I have yet to make one work to the point I get both nice corners and even edges and I’m beginning to wonder if I need to Frankenstein a method. You know, take a little from one method, another bit from another etc.?

I’m always on the lookout for new or tried and true methods so if you have a good place to recommend, I would love to hear from you!