Friday Finishes - Braided Cording for Binding. . .

I needed to finish this small raw-edged strip quilt that I began in my Itsy Bitsy Quilt Club last week.  I discussed this on my Bigfork Quilts, Etc. site, but will describe in more detail here.

Having finished a previous quilt with a cording for binding, I decided to use the same finish for this quilt.  Once I determined which cording I wanted to use, I realized that it was too thin.  I tried to double it up but it was unmanageable to try to keep along the edge of the quilt as I zigzag stitched it.  So, being a quilter that can sometimes think outside the lines :), braiding the cording came to mind.

I doubled the cording length needed to go around the quilt and cut it.  Another piece was cut to the single length size.  The cording was pinned into my cutting mat to hold the cording while braiding.  I didn't become overly concerned with the tightness of the braid.  I just braided as was comfortable.

 Once braided the cording was thick enough to use for binding.  It was stiffer than a fabric cording which made it easy to hold against the quilt while stitching.  

 For the zigzag stitch, I used a 2.5 width and a 1.0 length.

When rounding the corner, because of its stiffness, I held it gently to the quilt and let the stitching catch it as I went around.

Once complete, I was satisfied with the result.  The braiding closed off the raw edges and added a dark border without changing the look of the original quilt.  When you try this for yourself, I recommend a small quilt as this one is (about 8" x 11") to enable you to have good control until you get a full understanding of how this works.


Happy Friday,