Just finished the quilting on the Crown Chakra Quilt. Now I’m in the binding phase, and this one has a lot of angled edges, and a peek-a-boo spot. I ended up procrastinating this part of the quilt for a full week trying to figure out how to do it.
First, I decided to make bias binding. This allows the binding to stretch a bit, so I can finagle it around the inside edges. I watched a bunch of tutorials on how to make bias binding, and that took time. After a few errors, I finally got it figured out. Then I had to figure out how to sew the binding on the angles, and have it work so you can fold it to the back for hand stitching. I tried a couple tests:
I found a tutorial online by SewVeryEasy here. This tutorial shows how to make a template to show where to start and stop stitching. It also shows a few essential tips for mitered edges. I recommend this video tutorial, it was very helpful.
I think it took about 3 times as long to machine stitch the binding to the top of the quilt, with all the corners and edges. It is certainly taking longer to hand stitch the binding to the back of the quilt. I tried for super clean mitered edges, some are better than others!
I got this quilt backing from Portland Quilt Supply which is a locally based online quilt shop, and is close-by so I can pick up and save shipping costs. It’s really soft, and I love the print. I especially love that I didn’t have to piece a back for this quilt. I’m ready to start on other projects!
Healing
Working on a lot of personal healing with this whole Chakra Quilt Series. I started this project after learning about a friend passing due to liver failure. I really wanted to make enough personal changes to prolong my life in a way where I still want to live life. Making these quilts has been an amazing journey through many emotions and personal readjustments. I’m starting to put my thoughts down about them because I do plan on creating a book with lots of photos with information about how I connected the Chakra system to my quilting for emotional growth.