Binding Quilts with the Janome Quilt Binder Set

I love to free motion quilt my quilts, but once I get done quilting them, especially if I've gone a little over the top with ruler work and dense fills, I tend to stall out on the binding. So I finally got around to using the Janome Quilt Binder Set.

I am totally in love with the quilt binder set! It's perfect for just getting these quilts bound and done. And I'm a big fan of done over perfection any day.

People usually wonder, "What about the corners?" Well, I think my corners are possibly better than my usual traditional method. I've got a pictorial tutorial for you and I will hopefully follow up with a video at some point. (This is not the easiest process to get good video footage while still getting my hands where they need to be.)

Four fabulous corners and #2 is where I joined the beginning and end!

This is the Janome Quilt Binding Set, not to be confused with the simple binding foot, which can't handle the thickness of a quilt but does a great job with binding raw edges of garments or making thin straps. If you have something other than a Janome, check with your dealer as I would think some of the other brands would have a similar product.

It attaches to the machine, in part, by replacing the bobbin cover door with the base of the binder set, so it's important to get the right one for your machine. It's only meant for the bigger machines as you've got to have some room to work.

It does a half inch binding using a 2 inch strip of fabric. There are other binders that are compatible that do different sizes, but you need the base from this set to make them work with means another purchase, which can get spendy. So just stick with this one unless you've got your own sweat shop going.

I cut my strips 2 inches wide and join them with 45 degree seams, then press to one side. I've tried to press them open but the binder just pushes them to the right as it is fed through, so to one side they go. I also make sure to load it with the seam allowances going to the right.

 As you can see in the above picture, the attachment wraps the binding around the edges. That 90 degree positioning/fold of the binding really helps get the quilt fully into the binding. There are several adjustments that the various screws allow you to make, including angling it for a curved edge and making the bottom fold stick out further than the top fold of the binding.

It comes with a foot but I chose to use my narrow Acufeed Flex Foot (a built in walking foot that is perfectly synchronized to the regular feed dogs) for more even feeding of the quilt layers and binding. It works fabulously together.

You can use a straight stitch but using a decorative stitch ensures that you'll catch both edges of the binding for sure.  In these two samples, I used pretty wide stitches because they looked great with the quilts, but I have used a narrow serpentine stitch, blanket stitch, and straight stitch with great results.

When you get to a corner, you stitch right up to the edge. Then you lift the foot and pull the quilt straight back about 10-12 inches (away from you) and put the foot back down on top of the binding and finger press the folded binding hanging out the back of the machine. Don't skimp on how much you pull through the back or you won't have enough to comfortably work with.

Then you fold the mitered corner down in front and secure with pins or tape, then the same for the back.

I now prefer Kimberbell Tape to do this. I do not sew over pins and when using them, as soon as I took them out, it would shift. I can sew right through the tape and it picks out easily without gumming up my needle or fabric.

Then you pull the quilt towards the back and insert into the extra binding that was pulled out. Then you carefully pull the binding backwards through the binder attachment, moving the quilt backwards as you go, until you are at the corner ready to continue stitching.

Gently pull until the binding encases the edge and you are back at the corner

Since I use the Kimberbell tape, I don't have to futz with pins. Just start stitching again. For the record, I wouldn't use any other brand of tape for this even it it does look like paper bandage tape. It's been made for stitching through.

And how do I join the ends of binding? There are a couple of different methods, but I am now a fan of joining the ends at a corner! This means I can use the binder as much as possible. If I joined along a side, I'd have to wing it to secure the binding on either end of the join.

 So I just hand tuck the raw ends to make a nice mitered corner and stitch it down. If I stitch all four corners down at the miters, it would be super duper hard to tell the difference. My friend and one of my favorite customers, Ann, took a look at this quilt and totally approved.

Because the attachment covers the bobbin cover door, you'll want to start with a full bobbin. Learn from my experience! Also, I don't recommend using a super complicated decorative stitch for this reason; uses more thread.

I wouldn't use this for show quilts, but if you want something to help get quilt binding done, this is fabulous. Great for charity quilts, utility quilts, and in my case, shop samples. I know some will say they prefer to hand bind, that's it's relaxing. I actually agree, but I am strapped for time and this helps.

My daughter is certainly happy to finally have her first quilt done. She pieced these 10" squares together and then we split the quilting. We each quilted every other block, and then it sat....waiting for its binding. Now it's all done!

Now, it's not cheap. But time is priceless. Many dealers don't keep the binders in stock because of the price, but I do, now that I've seen how easy it is to use. You can find the Janome Quilt Binder Set over at AmyQuilts.com in two versions for different machines.

Finally, yes, I'm back to blogging here. Turns out our online shop's blogging platform makes it difficult to format a decent article and more importantly, it didn't allow me to respond directly to comments! That's a total deal breaker, so this will become the blog for all of my sewing and quilting adventures.

Janome Quilt Binder Set

I have tried out the Janome Quilt Binder Set recently, and I think this might be just the tool I need to get more of my sample quilts, as well as utility quilts bound up in a jiffy! I seem to stall out at the quilt binding stage, but with a little more practice, I'm going to get caught up.

 Now, there are a couple versions of this binding set for different machines. I had one that came with the existing inventory when we bought the shop. It was rather old and the packaging showed it. It's not a cheap tool, so I knew I'd have to play with it if I was going to prove that it was a worthwhile item. I set it aside and there it sat.

When I got it out finally, I discovered it was made for the bigger 7mm stitch width machines like the 6600P, MC7700, 11000, and the like. I didn't have any of those machines in the shop so I tried it on a smaller 7mm machine, the 4120. It fit that machine, but just barely. It was a little hard to maneuver.

But after just one test quilt, I went ahead and ordered the set that would fit on my 15000 and other Janome 8mm stitch width machines, like the 8900, 8200, 9400, etc.

Corners were easier than I expected. However, once I moved to a real quilt, I had trouble lining up the edges of the 1/2 inch binding to get it to stitch down perfectly, all in one pass. I do think trying to work under the small space of the 4120 was partly responsible.

I was able to stitch the entire binding down, including all four corners in 57 minutes! That didn't count for the final joining of ends, and I missed the binding in a few places, but overall, it's definitely worth doing it enough to perfect the technique!

I'll keep you posted on this tool and whether I think it's worth the investment.

Also I am happy to announce that the Ruler Work Upgrade is now available for the Janome 9400. The demand is great and it's getting into an out of stock item quickly. In fact, Janome is sending me a loaner machine so I can shoot videos of the ruler foot in action and it's been put on backorder! If you have the 9400 and want to do ruler work....talk to your dealer asap! Yes, it's totally worth it! The software update will make it impossible to clunk your ruler foot and your needle clamp together. Janome is the only machine on the market with such a foot and feature.

By the way, many of you have asked about the Glide thread that I use for so much of my quilting. I sell it online, but have yet to list it in as many colors as we actually have at Sew Simple of Lynchburg. But I an excited to share that we now carry the Angela Huffman Glide Thread Collection. Ten cones at a great price in a handy storage case. You can order it at Amy's Quilting Adventures.

A Free Motion Quilting Finale

Look! I'm making binding, which means I must have finished quilting something. Yay me! Ombre Triangles is done. (I think I need a better name for this project.)

This poor quilt had so much start and stop quilting that I kept forgetting how I wanted to quilt it between sessions, so it lost its cohesive look. But I had fun playing around with these triangles and groups of triangles. Some were done as diamonds, others as hexagons, but all pretty different.

Most of it was ruler work, with the QP Edge (12") but I also used a QP Curve #8, and a free hand scroll-y, flower fill especially around the edges. Then I threw in a few other things just to keep it interesting.

This whole quilt was done in one fabric, V&Co Ombre, and I was able to trim up the extra backing for my binding, which left it mostly as the darker teal color.

I always struggle when it comes to stitching strips of binding together. I get distracted, sometime from others around me, other times from my ditzy brain. So I've taken to ironing one end of each strip (each strip oriented the same way) at a 45 degree angle. This helps me make the angled seam point the same way and makes sure I sew the strips together properly.

Don't you hate it when you pull the strip open and you've done it wrong? Maybe you've stitched right side to wrong side? Maybe I'm the only one whose botched it more times than I want to admit?

Then I open the crease and I've got something to follow for a good straight 45 degree seam.

Now, if I had turned my binding around so the bulk of it was lying to the right, I could have used these handy dandy markings on the needle plate (see red arrows below). Janome machines have a mess of helpful lines on the needle plate! Sometimes I forget they are there though....bad Janome dealer, shame on me!

Then I switched to a different foot 'sole' for my integrated walking foot, aka the Accufeed Flex System. Love these built in walking feet that are completely removable. This foot combination has a 1/4 inch guide on it.

Of course, by the time I got to the binding, I was beyond ready to do something else and didn't audition the binding around the quilt very well and ended up with this....

Now, if this had been an actual solid fabric, I could have easily adjusted that last binding seam that joined the ends. But that ombre was making its move to another color where I wanted to do it. In the end (ha!), I worked it out as far away as I could without having a noticeable change of color between the two strips. (Totally should have done the "No Tails Binding" by Linda Hungerford.)

I like using Roxanne's Glue Baste It for putting ends of binding together. I pressed my 45 degree angle, added a smidge of glue in what would be the seam allowance, hit it with the iron for instant drying, then opened it up and stitched along the crease. Once I stitched, I popped the seam allowance open, trimmed it to 1/4 inch, pressed it open, and stitched it the rest of the way.

Next, I'm machine stitching this guy down by stitching in the ditch. Then I'm off to one of many things on my to-do list. So many things I want to make. I want to make a little girl's dress to show off a new fabric line in the shop, there's a bag I want to make from another line, I want to make a sloth pillow.... the list goes on and on!

Plus, there's moving to do! We're coming up on our one year anniversary of owning Sew Simple and to celebrate, we're packing everything up and moving down the road almost one mile to a better, bigger location. I'm so excited!

Goodness! Look how dark my hair is. I need some highlight, stat.

One of the things I'm loving about this move is that the new location has no overhead tenants. So many videos have gotten ruined by thumping feet. I think they must be little gymnasts. Also, we will have a separate classroom space from the rest of the sales floor, which will give me a better chance to work on projects. Finally, I think we're just about ready to take another giant leap of faith and look for our first employee or two. I just can't do it all, even with my wonderful husband's help.

Just in the Nick of Time

I finished my Big Block Baby Quilt for my niece just in the nick of time and sent it off. The USPS tells me it will get there Christmas Eve Day. I really enjoyed this project. It worked up quickly (despite the little available time I had to work on it) and was fun to quilt with an all over design and I did just a bit of quilting with rulers.

I did a bit of ruler work in the solid blue triangles, since that's the only place where it had a chance to show. A triangle, star, Celtic knot, and the letter A (for Abbie!) into a triangle. I used bark blue thread for the quilting in these spaces and while it shows up a bunch on the back now, I'm confident that one wash and the minky will cover up the stitching.

I finished the binding by machine. I stitched the binding onto the back first (with regular thread) and then stitched it down on the front with a tiny blanket stitch with very fine invisible thread. I made sure to tie off all ends very securely.

 I used the built-in walking foot attachment on my Janome 8200 for the binding and I also wore my Machingers gloves on my left hand to help me guide the quilt as I stitched. This dry winter air makes things slippery and the grip of the gloves really helps. By the way, did you know you can get these in size extra small at my shop? My hands aren't tiny, but my fingers are somewhat short. The extra small leaves no extra space at the tips of my fingers. Very (ahem...) handy.

I mailed off the last of my Christmas presents today and I'm all done with the kids' presents. Hubby is in charge of wrapping them. Shopping isn't much of a deal here as we keep Christmas pretty simple but the kids are so excited! Since they're out of school, we're planning on doing more baking and some crafting too.

Is it done? I'm sure she wonders....

Craftsy is having their last sale of the year and all classes are up to 50% off including my own. If you're done with your shopping for others, it might be time for you to buy a little something for yourself OR to "Gift a Class" to someone else as a last minute gift that doesn't require wrapping or shipping. Use my Instructor's link to get the best prices and to put a tiny bit of jingle in my pocket at no cost to you: http://www.craftsy.com/ext/AmyJohnson_holiday

This video reminds me I better make sure my hubby hasn't lost his list of my gift suggestions. I usually tell him I don't need anything and he takes that as "Don't get me anything" and then he doesn't. Silly man. You'd think that after 22 Christmases he'd learn that I do like a little something to unwrap even if it's not much. (Then again after 22 years, you'd think I'd be used to him taking me at my word about not needing a present.) I hate for him to spend money on something I won't like though, so this year I gave him a little list to choose from.

How about you? Are you done with Christmas shopping? Does your significant other need some help when it comes to shopping? Do you give a list too?

A Free Motion Quilting Finish

I've mentioned before that my word for the year is "Finish". I gave a tiny peek into this project in my Transferring Designs to Fabric post.

It would not bode well for me this year if I couldn't finish my "Finish"! It's all done now, stapled onto the frame and ready to hang in my studio.

 I am so happy to have it quilted up to put it on my wall. It's ridiculously densely quilted. The canvas I stretched it over is just 8 by10 inches.

I shared it with a few friends on Instagram and Facebook in its unfinished form and we had a good giggle over the irony of the unfinished piece.

Speaking of Instagram, I've now got a smart phone and am trying to make better use of that service. I had to have my baby sister walk me through a few points of using it. (She's a mere 21 and her iPhone is nearly a permanent appendage.) If you are on Instagram, you can find me as "amys_fmq_adventures". I'd love to follow more quilty folk there!

I used a white Kona cotton for the front and backing of this piece. I had done another similar piece in december and shared that I only used a front piece of fabric and batting, no backing. I'm back to using the standard 3 layers of top, batt, and backing.

I had forgotten to mark one of the dots above an 'i' and quilted right over where it should have been. I could have stalled out right there, but I ripped out the area and stitched the dot a few times. It was too small an area to tie off and bury the thread ends unless I ripped out a large section.

I've decided it's a symbolic happening. A reminder of when I need to push through the perfectionism that makes me stall out on so many projects and just finish. Not that I'm embracing poor workmanship or sloppy technique, but keeping it in a workable perspective.

These swirls make me happy! The thread is a Sulky Blendable. It's a pretty variagated cotton thread that's been in my stash a long time.

So here's to many more finishes this year. Some of my finishes are quilting projects, some are more personal, but all need to get done this year. I hope we will inspire one another other to do more free motion quilting and get more finishes under our belts.

Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman with a Sewing Machine

I hope you enjoyed my speed quilting video on Saturday. I finished up that project already, which is fast for me even if time lapse photography doesn't speed up reality.

I shot another video as I worked on it some more, filling in the centers of some of the letters. Then I filled in all around the quote with little swirls, shells, leaves, flowers and more.

I started to quilt the surrounding area with some white Aurifil, but while the stitching looked great, it took away from the focus of the piece. So I had to do some frogging: rip it, rip it.

Then I whipped out my staple gun and stapled it to an economy quality, 12x18 inch stretched canvas from AC Moore. I'll probably glue some ribbon over the stapled edge and down over the edge of the stretcher bars.

I think it turned out great. I'll show you another picture of this piece on the wall when I show how I rearranged my studio next week.

I love this quote! We've got our tools and we're not afraid to use them! Obscure factoid: I can also do a decent bit of welding. But this is so much prettier!

I'll work up a little tutorial on how I get these letters to use for this and other projects in a few days or so. I'm really loving putting my work on canvas this way. No binding and fast!

Dresdens are Done

I finished up with Ellen's lovely Dresden quilt late last week and other than a border design that I decided had to be ripped out and changed, I really enjoyed it. Though I only had little bits of time free to work on it, so it felt like it took forever!

The pictures aren't the greatest, as we've been having overcast days.

I was going to do piano keys or beadboard on the outer border (at the bottom of the above picture) but I was afraid the print and my lines of stitching might not run parallel enough and then run the risk of looking all crooked.

Seeing the shape of the dark parts of the batik made it easy to decide to do another fern feather around the border.

 Shot of the back. Looks pretty good, I think. Can't wait until Ellen has it in her hands and lets me know what she thinks.

I merged the spiral background design into a border with fern feather leaves for the narrower border. I also used my Sue Pelland Leaves Galore ruler to mark the spines and spiral border.

I like doing quilts for others from time to time, but find it horribly nerve wracking. Ellen was fabulous with her permission to do what I thought the quilt needed. I am probably more critical of my work than any of my customers, but that can be a good thing.

But teaching folks to quilt their own quilts is what makes me the happiest! Next Monday will kick off a month of designs and tips for beginners for the Free Motion Monday Quilting Adventure and link party. Come join the fun.