Tutorial: Satin Binding on a Baby Blanket

One of my friends is about to become a first time grandmother. She's a quilter and has been sewing like crazy. She knew that I was making a pattern for a baby blanket with satin binding and begged me to show her how to attach it. This tutorial is for her and for all of you who have wondered how to make the binding look neat and professional.

The puppy applique will be found in my Craftsy pattern, “Doggy in the Window” baby blanket.

Finished Measurements: Approximately 34" x 40"

Materials:

·      2 yards of baby flannel

·      1 package of satin blanket binding

·      matching thread

Preparing the Blanket for Binding

1. Prewash two yards of baby flannel in warm water. Prewashing is essential because the flannel will shrink a lot.

2. Press the flannel and cut it in half.

3. If you are adding an applique, do it now, before you put the front and back pieces of fabric together.

4. Lay the two flannel pieces wrong sides together on a cutting mat. The right sides of the fabric will be facing out.

5. Cut through both layers with a rotary cutter to square up the sides. You can usually get a rectangle of about 34” x 40”.

6. Pin the pieces together and stay-stitch around the outside edges of the flannel. You could zigzag or serge the edges instead if you like.

About the Binding

Satin blanket binding usually comes in package containing 4 3/4 yards of 2-inch single fold satin. It is found in most fabric stores on the same display case that contains rickrack, seam binding, and bias tape.

When you examine the bias tape you’ll see that one folded side is slightly wider than the other.

This wider side will go on the back of the blanket.

The cut ends of the binding fray very easily, so care will need to be taken to prevent your binding fraying apart at any seams.

                                                    

Attaching the Binding

1. Lay your unbound blanket on a flat surface. (I use an ironing board.)

2. Open the binding and slid it under one side of the blanket. Make sure the wider side of the binding is against the back of the blanket. Leave about an inch of binding overlapping the corner.

3. Snug the blanket right up against the fold all along this side.

4. Fold the blanket binding up and over the front of the blanket. Pin in place.

5. Set your machine to make a wide zigzag stitch. On my machine the width was set at 5 and the stitch length was 1.4.

6. Do not start stitching right at the corner. Begin about 6 inches in from that. You will need to keep that much the binding unattached for creating a neat corner seam later on.

7. Overlap the zigzag stitch so that it falls partly on the satin and partly on the flannel.

8. Stitch all the way up to the next corner. Lift the needle and cut the thread.

9. Open the binding. Fold at a right angle so that the blanket edge lies snugly up against the fold down the center of the binding.

10. Align the binding on the back first. Fold it into a neat, mitered corner that comes exactly to the edge of the stitched binding. This is really quite easy, but you may need to manipulate it a bit to get it just right. Pin in place.

11. Turn the blanket to the front and lay on a flat surface. Once again, tuck the blanket edge right up against the fold of the binding and pin in place all along the edge.

12. Fold the front segment up to make a mitered corner like you did on the back. Make sure that the front and back folds are in exactly the same place on the corner. Again, this may take a bit of maneuvering. Pin.

13. Begin sewing at the top of the mitered edge. Backstitch a few stitches, then sew forward to the edge of the binding. Make sure your stitches overlap both edges of the binding. If the front and back folds are aligned, the stitches will catch both sides of the back fold just like they do on the front.

14. Turn the blanket and stitch down the next side in the same way you stitched the first side.

15. Continue in this manner stitching sides and turning corners until you reach the last unfinished side. You will be putting a hidden seam in this last corner after you attach the two ends of the binding.

16. Stitch along the fourth side until you are about 6 inches from the end. Backstitch, cut the stitches and place the quilt on a cutting mat.

Note: You will be connecting the two ends of the binding, the end on the first side you attached and the end on the last side you attached.

17. Fold this last section of binding back out of the way so you can work with the binding on the side that you first attached to the quilt.

18. Make sure the blanket edge is snugged up against the fold in the binding. Now, cut the end of the binding 1/4 inch beyond from the side of the blanket with a rotary cutter.

19. Fold this segment of binding out of the way and trim the remaining edge 1/4 inch beyond the side of the blanket.

20. Open up both ends of the binding. Bring the cut sides together and pin.

21. Stitch the ends together with a 1/4 inch seam. Use a zigzag stitch to finish the edge so that it won’t fray out in the laundry after it’s all finished. Press the seam to one side.

22. Working on the last side you added binding to, pin the binding in place. The seam will fall exactly on the edge of the blanket.

23. Zigzag stitch the rest of the binding on this side of the blanket. Start where you left off with a backstitch and sew to the end in the same way you stitched to the corner edge on the other three corners.

24. Open the binding and fold it to miter the corners exactly like all other corners. The only difference is that this time a seam will be tucked away on the inside.

25. Miter the corners as before and pin.

26. Stitch the mitered folds, turn the blanket and stitch along this final stretch back on the first side of the blanket that you worked on.

27. Sew right up to and just over the beginning zigzag stitches. Backstitch.

Cut the threads and your blanket is beautifully bound with perfect stitching on the front and on the back!

Happy Stitching!!