Sewing on Binding

Well, here I am writing my blog again.  It's been awhile but I feel like I have a new inspiration now.  I know my family will not be real thrilled to read this especially when they realize that I'm writing about sewing.  Sorry!  One aspect of sewing that has gotten me frazzled is sewing binding on.  In the past when I've done binding I've used the single layer method and hand-sewn the back.  When I started making the table runner and small blankets, I finally looked it up in my book and saw how I was supposed to be doing it.  Mind you, it looked pretty good but that hand sewing was time consuming.  Anyway, the tips I've found useful during those first attempts are still in force.  They are

1. using the double layer of binding.  With this I use a wider strip, fold in half  with wrong sides together and press, and sew the raw edges to the piece I'm sewing.
2. using a certain technique for starting and ending the binding.  When I begin preparing my binding, I fold to the inside about a 1/4 inch and press.  As I lay my binding out to sew, I pin but don't sew for the first inch or so.  Then as I come all around and begin to finish, I lay the end of the binding out over the beginning, cut it overlapping slightly and tuck the end of the tail inside the beginning.  At that point I sew the last stretch of binding and piece to finish off.  This works like a charm.

So everything was going pretty smooth until I started  sewing something that wanted me to sew the binding all on the machine.  I didn't have a clue and it showed with my first attempt.  The instructions were very poor to say the least.  Then one day I was watching a Sewing with Nancy show where she was showing how to use different presser feet  -  a binding foot in particular.  I watched the technique and put it to use in my next project which was a wine bag.  Wow, it was great!  Doing all the binding on the machine was a dream come true.  There's still some room to tweak it but I'm getting there.  So this is how I did it.

1. Use the techniques shown in the first part of this blog to prepare your binding.  That will get the binding sewn on to the front of your piece.
2. One of my problems has also been getting the width of my binding just right.  This time I used 2 1/2 in. wide bias strip, folded in half.  I can't seem to get it over to the back and have enough room to catch it all in back there.  This time I trimmed the seam allowance to half and I had more than enough.  I might even cut back slightly on the binding width next time. 
3. At this point you must pin your binding onto the back from the front where you'll be sewing.  Just make sure your pin ends below the binding on the front but still catches it on the back.
4. Sew in the ditch just below your binding in the front all the way around and voila, it should be done.  You also won't see the sewing in the front. 

That really speeds things up when I can sew all this on the machine.  I was doing it on curves with bias binding which is a little trickier so regular straight lines would be a breeze.  Thanks for letting me get this off my chest and sorry again for those who don't sew.