Once all the stitching and quilting is completed, it is time to finish off the quilt by adding the binding around the edges.

While stitching the layers of the quilt together, the edges will be a bit uneven, with batting sticking out beyond the quilt top and the backing will be larger as well. Therefore, the first step relating to binding will be to even out the edges. This is most easily done using a rotary cutter and a long plastic ruler or straight edge. Please the ruler along the edge of your quilt, lined up with the inmost layer of fabric. Hold it securely in place while trimming the excess batting and fabric.

The most common method of binding a quilt is to cut several strips of fabric which are approximately 2.5 inches wide and then sew them together into a long strip which is long enough to go all the way around all four sides of the quilt with about 20 inches of overlap. Next you will fold this long strip in half length-wise, wrong sides together, and press. Sew it to the edges of the quilt, raw edges even. Finally, the binding strip is folded around to the back of the quilt, encasing the raw edges, and sewn in place either by hand or by machine. Machine sewing is faster and stronger, but it is very difficult to get both sides of the binding to look even. Hand sewing gives a smoother finished look and the stitches can be completely invisible.

[Link to an online tutorial]

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