How to Hack the Janome Quilt Binder

Before I had the amazing Janome quilt binder, I used to bind quilts in a more traditional manner. Sew to the front, flip to the back and hand sew. (It took soooooo long lol.)

Then I discovered a “sew to the back and flip to the front” method, which I would topstitch by machine to secure.

But the Quilt Binder has totally changed up my binding game. It creates consistent and quick application, and uses less fabric. I have to admit however, I was getting bored. So here are some ‘hacks’ that I figured out for the Quilt Binder. Ready?

The traditional use of the Quilt Binder has you cut 2″strips, and then attach them together and feed through the attachment. It covers the edge neatly, but leaves only 1 layer of fabric which might be un-desirable to some projects. (Like a quilt that gets washed and washed, or home accessories that are used every day.)

The fold for the 4″ of fabric is at the bottom, so that it wraps neatly on the back.

So I cut strips at 4″, joined them on the diagonal and then pressed the big long strips in half. Voila, double fold binding using the Quilt Binder.

Raw edges of the double fold of fabric are on the top of the quilt.

My most favorite hack however is this one: binding with piping. I’m so pleased that I finally figured it out. First you need two strips of fabric – one that is 1 5/8″ for the main binding, and the other .75″ as an accent color. Join the strips on the diagonal, and sew together with a 1/8″ seam allowance.

The HP foot and plate makes this part a breeze.

Press the seam towards the accent color, and position as you normally would in in the quilt binder attachment. I really find the Tape Stand so helpful for this, too.

Now you can sew as normal, lining up your needle with the seam.

I love serging around the edges of my quilts, it flattens the seam allowance and makes it much smoother while binding.

Look at how pretty this binding turned out!! It has the pop of colour that I was looking for.

Give this method a try, and post a pic on Instagram so we can see how it turned out! Our handle is @janomecanada.

I’ll see you soon!

JanomeGirl