Ah bindings, the last step to complete before your quilt is finished. Well, you should put a label on, but I'll assume that you've already done that. 

When I started quilting, I used to just tuck the end of the binding into where I started. It worked okay, but I wasn't quite happy. Then I learned how to join my binding ends together. It's such a good look, and it's too hard, provided you slow down and give yourself space to work.

How much fabric do you need?

First, you want to figure out how much binding you need. To do that, measure the perimeter of your quilt, then add 12 inches to account for going around the corners. For example if your quilt is 70 x 85 inches, you would add 70 + 70 + 85 + 85 = 310 + 12 = 322 inches. Divide that number by 40 (a conservative width of fabric) to get 7.75. This is the number of strips you need to go around your quilt. We'll round that up to the nearest whole number 8. 

I like to cut my bindings at 2.5 inches, so 8 strips multiplied by 2.5 inches equals 20 inches. If I were buying this from a quilt shop, I'd buy 2/3 yard (24 inches) to account for washing and squaring up. 

Making the binding

Join your 2.5 inch strips with a 45 degree angle seam so that you have one continuous length. 

Cut off the excess within the seam allowance and press your seams open. Then press the entire length of the binding wrong sides together. Trim dog ears.

Attaching the binding

I find a place to start, usually somewhere in the middle of one of the sides. I almost always lay out the binding as if I'm applying it to see if a seam is going to land at a corner. If it will, I adjust where I'm going to start. Once I've found a suitable place to start, I pin the binding to the quilt and take it to my machine.

I trim my quilt before I put the binding on. Then I lay the binding about 1/8 inch inside the raw edge of the quilt. You want the raw edges of the binding to be toward the outside. I leave a starting tail of about six inches before I start stitching. Stitch with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Stitch along merrily until you near the corner. Stop stitching 3/8 inch before the edge of the quilt. That 3/8 inch corresponds to the 1/4 inch seam allowance plus the extra 1/8 inch inside the edge that I've placed the binding. Backstitch.

This next part trips people up a little, but you'll get a chance to do it four times per quilt, so it'll be second nature before you know it.

First, take the quilt out of the machine. Then fold the binding away from the direction you're going to be heading. 

The trick here is to make sure you make that fold exactly 45 degrees. You should be able to fold it back on itself and not be able able to see any fabric peeking out.

At this point it's a good idea to pin the binding in place while you get it situated under the needle. Once you've got it placed, start at the edge of the binding and backstitch.

Continue on this way, treating all of the corners the same way. When you get to the last side, stop about 8 or 9 inches from where you started stitching.

Trim off any selvage from the starting tail.

Now, I cut my binding 2 1/2 inches. If I had cut it, say, 2 1/4 inches, then that is the measurement I'd use for this next part. But we're sticking with 2 1/2 inches.

What we're going to do is measure and cut our ending tail so that we have exactly a 2 1/2 inch overlap of the two ends. 

We are going to join these two ends with a 45 degree seam, just like when we made the binding. In order to do that, we need to bring the two ends together so that we can overlap them at that angle. I've pinned mine here to keep the bulk of the quilt out of the way.

Before I trim the seam allowance to 1/4 inch, I'm going to unpin my quilt and make sure it lays correctly and that it's not twisted.

I hope this tutorial helps you join those binding ends. No more tucked-in bindings!

This last group of tuffet photos defies categorization. Actually, with the end of the year craziness, skating trips and competitions, people making their second (and third, and fourth!) tuffets, and everything else, I'm so behind on tuffet posts that I wanted to get them in before the end of the year. These tuffets were finished at nearly all of the shops I teach at, as well as my house! Some of these tuffets feature alternate layouts, and some are made of interesting materials such as ties, minky, and leather!

Before we get on to the photos, I want to thank the shops that have hosted me this year: Bungalow Quilting and Yarn in Ripon, Patches and Petals in Belleville, Quilt-agoius in Mukwonago, Quintessential Quilts in Madison and Reedsburg, and The Electric Needle in Madison. When you shop for quilt fabric, sewing machines, yarn, or notions, please consider one of these shops. They've all been wonderful. If you can't shop at one of these shops, please shop at a local (or small online) shop. Remember they won't be there any more if you don't shop at them! 

​On to the tuffet photos!

Thanks for looking through all of the wonderful tuffets in this post! And thank you for your support throughout the year. It means a lot to me. 
​
I'll see you in 2016!

I'm so happy to let you know that I'll be teaching at a new shop later next month: Quilt Play in Grayslake, Illinois! The class is on Saturdays, January 9 and 23rd. Call the shop at (847) 548-4967 to sign up! And if you're in the area, check out the mostly Tula Pink Eden tuffet I made for their sample!

We had a couple of repeat Tuffeteers in Belleville this past November. They are a lovely aunt and niece duo! If you've already made one tuffet, the second one goes much more quickly.

Thank you so much for such an awesome year! I started this business, this site, and this blog this past spring and things have been going so well I can't even find the right words. I'm so grateful to every single one of you who takes time out to read my posts, or visit my site. (In case I don't sound enthusiastic enough, I'm trying to use fewer exclamation points, as my first draft had one at the end of each sentence. Hmmm. Sounds like a new year's resolution.)

I'm planning on lots of great things in 2016. More tuffets of course, but also many more quilts! You can look forward to a new pattern or two from me, new classes, and a tuffet retreat!

​Until then, I will be playing catch-up and posting tuffet class posts from the last few weeks of the year. Stay tuned!

 A fun group of ladies gathered to make tuffets (over a month ago, I'm ashamed to report -- I've been swamped with skating costumes) at The Electric Needle in Madison. Their tuffets were gorgeous and their enthusiasm was great! First a few photos from the first class (which I'm not always great at capturing):

And the finished tuffets...

Figure skating is a wonderful sport. It's fast, it requires artistry, and it's athletic. From a sewer's perspective, it also features gorgeous costumes. 

Everyone's familiar with figure skating, but are you familiar with synchronized skating? It's where teams of between 8 and 20 skaters perform routines in unison. Their skating creates shapes and formations that a single or pair simply cannot do. 

My daughter is a figure skater, but her real passion is synchronized skating. I've shown costumes that I've made before, but this year I made costumes for three teams -- 35 costumes in all! They made their competition debut this past weekend at the Dr. Porter Synchronized Skating Classic in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

I love seeing the different fabrics students use in their tuffets. This time we had a group at Quintessential Quilts in Madison. What a fun group of ladies! I love the camaraderie that develops in tuffet classes. People work together and give opinions and share in their wonderful creations.

You know, I'm really running out of names for these tuffet posts! But I still want to share all of them with you. I may have to get creative.

Anyway, we had three more tuffets created at Quilt-agious in Mukwonago, Wisconsin. Judy, Pat and Michelle made lovely tuffets! By they way, if you haven't ever been to Quilt-agious, you should go, especially if you love modern fabric. If your GPS lands you in a parking lot you're not expecting, check across the street. You don't want to miss this shop!​

You may or may not know this, but in my spare time, I make skating costumes for synchronized skating teams (as well as for individuals). This is my very busy time of year. I'm making 35 costumes this season and they're due in the next couple of weeks. So I've been working on those nearly every waking hour. Because I tend to make them in assembly line fashion, there's not too much to show... yet. I'll have lots of photos of those in, oh about two weeks.

 In the meantime I've been very lax about posting about tuffet classes. It's time to remedy that! I'll publish a new post every few days to catch up.

I added a new shop to my tuffet route -- Patches and Petals in Belleville, Wisconsin. I've taught there before, but tuffets are a new addition. ​​

What variety in their tuffets! Let's take a closer look...

So pretty! Patches and Petals is in a really old building with lots of character. Here are the class tuffets lined up on their stairs. Lovely!

I was so happy to get to go on a quilting retreat with some wonderful women in the Madison Modern Quilt Guild this past weekend! The location was beautiful -- the Jones Mansion in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. I stayed up way too late, laughed until tears came out of my eyes, and got a lot of sewing done. What I didn't do was take photos over the weekend. Darn it. And a lot of what I worked on is not yet finished.

But I did finish these two t-shirt quilt samples for Quintessential Quilts. I will have classes scheduled there very soon! They make great graduation gifts. These two aren't yet quilted, but the tops are done. I'll post them again after they're really finished!

Good news: I also plan to write up my method for these as a tutorial or pattern.​​

Which do you prefer?

Some new tuffets come out of Quintessential Quilts in Reedsburg this past weekend. Canada was working on her second tuffet, and Marge was finishing up her first. Canada brought her first along as well as I didn't get a chance to photograph it when it was completed. Lovely job, ladies!

Katherine made this tuffet in class at The Electric Needle in Madison, but it worked out better for her to finish it at my house, which is why these photos are from my living room and not the shop. She made her tuffet out of silk dupioni. It is stunning. She made it to match a silk quilt she has. The colors are so rich on this tuffet!

So pretty!

I had three people finish tuffets at Quilt-agious in Mukwonago last week. Two of them took back to back finishing classes, making two each, and another made her third tuffet! That makes three people who have finished three tuffets! I'm so proud of them!

​First up is Sandy's (third) tuffet. She made it from fabric that belonged to a friend who passed away. What a special way to commemorate her friend.

Next we have Lynn's two finishes. Both are Kaffe Fasset tuffets. They use a similar palette of colors, but they are both beautiful.

Rachel also made two tuffets, her second and third. She took her first class not long ago! I'd say she's hooked.

I've had a few people ask me if I've ever seen one come out badly, and I have to say, I haven't! Sometimes I'm not so sure based on the fabric someone chooses, but they always come out beautifully!

Last week at Quilt-agious in Mukwonago, three students finished up their wedges and began piecing together some beautiful Lone Star quilts. They got pretty far! I expect we'll see some finished quilt tops soon!

We also had a big tuffet class finish. I was unable to get a full group photo because we were having too much fun and ran late, but I did get all of their tuffets. Here are all of the photos...

One of the biggest problems experienced by machine quilters is tension issues. No, I'm not talking about headaches that cause you physical pain; I'm talking about thread tension. Though sometimes thread tension does seem to lead to physical headaches too!

Threads magazine has published a fantastic video that shows exactly what is happening when your machine takes a stitch. Check it out:

Okay, so now you know how the machine makes a stitch. So much is happening at amazing speeds! My straight stitch machine can sew at 1500 stitches per minute. That's 25 stitches a second!

You also saw how the two threads meet perfectly right where the two pieces of fabric meet. The video shows perfect thread tension. But what if you have your top thread showing on the bottom of your quilt? Or your thread breaks? Or any number of issues?

Well, I've put together a tension issues flowchart that will hopefully give you some tips on how to solve your own tension issues. I hope you find it helpful!​​

This weekend at Quintessential Quilts in Madison, eight tuffets were created by eight exhausted tuffeteers! They sewed throughout Saturday and did their finishing on Sunday. I can't tell you how impressed I am with their work!

I usually love to include lots of action shots, but we were so busy, I didn't get a chance to take many. But I got one!

Are you itching to take a tuffet class? Check out the schedule on my classes page. If you have a shop or guild within a few hours' drive from Madison, I'd be happy to come and teach your group!

I've decided to add some great services, tuffet finishing and custom tuffets. What's the difference, you might ask? 

Well, tuffet finishing service is for when you can sew, but you don't have the tools or desire to build your own tuffet. I'll send you the pattern (if you already have one, just message me and I'll send you a coupon code for the difference) and you sew the top together. Then send it back to me in in a few weeks, you'll have a completed tuffet! It's like magic!

Custom tuffets are for those of you who are non-sewers! You just send me the fabric (or I can provide it) and I'll do all of the work! And YES, this includes necktie tuffets!

Deadlines. I'm terrible without them. To wit: my daughter's teacher gave me a bunch of her sister's  t-shirts to make into a quilt. This was in 2009. I'm mailing it to her today. The quilt has been done for months; it actually spent some time as a sample in one of the shops I teach at (yes, I got permission first). I figured, it was already this late, why rush? Ugh. I know I'm not the only one with this problem, but I hate it.

Anyway, I thought I'd show you some photos! I love doing this style of t-shirt quilt. I think it's much more interesting than the straight set ones.

I have been talking a LOT about tuffets on this blog, but that's really a recent development in my life. I'm about to get heavily into the other "side" of my sewing life, which is making skating dresses. Sadly, these aren't as photogenic in process and will take a long time, not to mention there is a bit of the element of surprise, especially for the skaters. So while you may not see them as much in the next several weeks, they will be happening in the background.

My daughter skates on her own, but her real love is Synchronized Skating. This is the fastest growing skating sport and we are hoping it becomes an Olympic event soon. I'm in the process of making costumes for at least three teams this season. So stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, my daughter skated in a competition this past weekend. The girl she skated against was on her Synchro team last year, and I made this 60s-inspired dress for her a couple of months ago.

And here is my daughter and her dress:

It's been a little while since I've posted but that's because I've been so busy with Quilt Expo! I was lucky enough to be able to give my Rinky Dink class as a one hour lecture all three days. Plus, I spent a lot of time in the Quintessential Quilts booth and was also able to spend some time helping out the friendly faces in the Bungalow Quilting and Yarn booth. I just discovered that Bungalow also has an Etsy shop! Dangerous!

Anyway, we prepared dozens and dozens of tuffet kits for sale through the Quintessential booth. We brought home a lot of them, but I made countless contacts and think that classes will fill up really quickly. Be sure to sign up for a class before it fills!

On to photos!

And now four of my favorite quilts that I saw. Sadly, I didn't even get a chance to see the whole show, I was that busy! First is the whole quilt and then a closeup.

Something else happened at the show, but I'm going to save that for another post.. Stay tuned!

We had some repeat tuffeteers at Quilt-agious in Mukwonago! These ladies are quickly becoming experts. If you've already taken the tuffet class, you can sign up for Tuffet II (or Tuffet Finishing) and do your sewing at home.

On the same day another group finished up our Tula Pink class. We worked on some blocks from her book, 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. We didn't make all 100 blocks, but I have photos of a few!

If you're in the Mukwonago area and are interested in the Tula Pink blocks, Quilt-agoius is starting a club. Give them a call!

I can't believe it -- in just three days, QuiltExpo will be here! I'm going to be giving a lecture based on my Quilting with Less Stress on a RInky Dink Machine class. There is still time to register for the class; in fact, you can even register the day of the show. QuiltExpo is held at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, September 10, 11, and 12. My lecture is held all three days at 1:00 pm. I'll even be having a giveaway of fat quarter bundles courtesy of Quilt-agious in Mukwonago.

Several shops that I teach at will also have booths where you can sign up for tuffet and other classes. And at Quintessential Quilts' booth, I'll be selling tuffet kits at a reduced price!

Speaking of tuffet kits, here's what about 100 of them look like, all stacked up in my guest bedroom:

I am so grateful to my friends and my husband who helped me box all of these up!

This weekend, a few friends and I got together to make tuffets at my house. Carrie wasn't able to finish, but we have two other happy tuffet makers!

We had some repeat tuffeteers at Quintessential Quilts in Reedsburg recently. You know, it's hard to stop at just one, just like potato chips. Big, giant, upholstered potato chips.