This week’s apple “quilt” is actually a placemat. Same technique as the apple quilts in part 1 & 2 with 5 inch squares sewed together with a JANOME 1/4 INCH FOOT & NEEDLE PLATE.
The placemat was sandwiched in the usual way, & quilted with a lime green satin stitch in the ditch. And now for the binding: this was different: instead of a traditional double fold binding or the envelope style edging on the table toppers in part 2, here I used a PIPED BINDING. The piping was made using a very narrow cord and black fabric. This is then sewed onto the binding strips BEFORE it is folded and applied to the edge of the quilt. I will say that there are a couple of different ways of doing this.
If you google “how to make a piped binding on a quilt”, you will find video’s & tutorials on this subject. Here is one presented by Susan Cleveland of the Piping Hot Binding tool & book fame. Be warned….you will probably want to buy this tool once you’ve seen the video’s!
There are other methods for doing piped binding. Ricky Tims teaches his very clever technique and this is the method I used on the placemat. The 4 sides of the placemat are sewed separately leaving 4-6 inch tails for each end of each side. These tails are then sewed to form the mitered corners. This is a pretty impressive way to finish a quilt. It IS a LOT more work but the overall effect is worth it – especially with competition entry quilts. It is well worth practicing the technique to master the skill. You might wish to invest in Ricky Tims’ DVD called The Grand Finale for expert tuition on this method.
So apples and more apples……all served up with piping hot binding!
