My sister in law caught the quilting bug. Â It makes me happy to share the craft with someone in my family. Â She did one quilt in December..the cute one in the background that features Moda’s fabric line Oink a Doodle Moo for her grandson…
She’s sewn TWO more quilts in January. Â Kelli helped her with cutting on the quilt above and I machine quilted and bound it.
From the first quilt to the second quilt she has improved so much and is well on her way to being a awesome quilter.
Recently she sent me the two other quilts she finished. Â I have one of the quilts on the frame and have been working on it.
This one she made for her Dad. Â It’s Route 66 fabric and the colors are great.
She sent it to me hoping I would bind it for her but…I’m thinking, what’s a teacher to do? Â Do I bind it for her or encourage her to get her learn the next step?? Â I am thinking…learn the next step but I don’t want to discourage her.
I just jumped over and checked…youtube has some good “how to bind a quilt” videos. Â I think she can do it. Â Don’t you??
Don’t say no outright. Remind your SIL that you’ve got this wedding quilt deadline in a couple of months and you just don’t have the time right now. Then suggest the videos and offer to answer any questions she might have.
I would definitely encourage her to do it herself while offering to answer questions. I find one of the best parts of making a quilt is hand sewing down the binding. Might be hers too :)
If she can get with either you or Kelli, have her do it with you, or offer to sew the front, and show her how to hand stitch to the back. That way, she can still say she finished it. I did that with a friend. She almost lost the quilt in Sandy, so when she was able to get it, I had her send it to me. I finished the quilting, and made the binding and sewed it on. It was a gift for her niece.
Binding is part of quilting. Refer her to the You Tube videos and some tutorials and have her do it herself. You are being more than supportive long arm quilting for her!
I have that Route 66 fabric. Still trying to figure out how to use it..hmmmm…giving me ideas!
how about killing two birds with one stone?
When you get ready to bind the wedding quilt, invite her over to help. it should be easy for each of you to take a side and work together on the wedding quilt. That way you get the help you need, and she gets the ‘hands on’ experience she needs before tackling her own quilt binding. Then if she runs into any problems on her first time thru, you’re right there to help and answer her questions.
She should come away from that first binding experience with more confidence, and also knowing whether she prefers to machine sew on her binding or to hand finish the binding on her own quilt.
Since binding is my favorite part after the piecing, I’d encourage her to learn to bind her quilts. And since this is her second quilt, it’s a perfect time to learn this part of it. I love her color choices with the Route 66 focal fabric. Great quilting Jo.
I love them both! I really like the quilting on the blue one. I might have to “borrow” it for my next quilt!
Yep, time for her to learn how to bind her quilts! Then it’s time to teach her how to quilt her own quilts on your machine :)
Agree… it is time for her to learn. I actually enjoy binding my quilts. I love bias binding, although I have to pull out my instructions every time I make the binding. I also love the process of hand stitching it down on the back side. It makes me feel like there is at least a component of hand work in this age of automation. And, lastly, I love a big, old fat binding. I trim my quilts when I take them off the frame and the basting on the edges makes a big 1/4 inch filler for the binding which makes it big and fat. Who knows… maybe your SIL will find out that she is as in love with the binding process as I am!
Teach her to bind. Then she can bind your quilts while you longarm hers. That would be a fair trade, I think.
It’s part of the process. Great videos out there. Time to learn!!
I think she is very fortunate to have a SIL like you who will do her quilting and I see no reason why you need to bind it for her. If she had to send it to a longarm quilter, she would have to bind it herself. I just taught my 9 yr. old neighbor girl to make a wallhanging for her bedroom and she bound it herself. I sat with her while she did 2 sides so I could help her at the corner, but she took it home and finished it by herself . She brought it over today and was so proud.
Binding is not that hard; you should encourage her to learn to do it. Especially because you have that wedding quilt to finish.
–C.B.
I would encourage her to do her own binding. She could practice by making a mug rug or potholder and try both hand stitching the binding on or machine stitching binding and see what way she likes best. Everyone has to learn sometime, she may enjoy doing it. Even if she doesn’t its part of the process. She may even want to try practicing some simple machine quilting on a little quilt. Her quilts look very nice.
I agree with those who said that it’s part of the process. It’s time she learns, whether
from you or from a tutorial.
Is there a chance that she follows your blog? She will know how you feel now if she does. I’m on the side of you machining the binding on for her and letting her finish it by hand, especially if she could do it whilst visiting you so you are on hand to help.
I find such satisfaction in stitching the binding down at the end of the quilt’s journey. It is one of my favorite things to do in quilting. She did a great job on the quilt top, so I think adding the binding would not be overwhelming.
No time like the present to learn another step in the quilt making process.
Set a day for her to visit and learn. That way you can work on the wedding quilt and she will have the support of your presence and advice. A little company goes a long way in building confidence!
I agree! It is great that you have quilted them, but she needs to keep building skills in all areas of quilting. . .that would be like a teacher taking the test for the student! Trial and error makes each of us learn from mistakes and build skills! Definitely tons of info/video available to help her as well!