World Wide Quilting Page

Question of the Week

Question for the week of November 30, 1998:

Our question this week comes from Lisa Whitesell

How would you bind a grandmother's flower garden quilt? Would it be basically the same as a wedding ring quilt?

Susan Schillig :
I have bound 2 flower garden quilts. The trick is to use a bias binding that is not very wide. I use a folded binding. It takes a long time to sew on the machine part, because there are so many little curves. Taking little tucks at the angles will give a relatively smooth binding. The smaller the binding (about 3/8 inch is good, the easier it is to turn the angles.

Heike Kytlica :
When I finished my grandmothers flower garden I used the pattern of the flower as the outer edge. I cut and pieced the backing fabric a little bigger then the quilt top. Ten as I finished the edge I cut the fabric of the backing away, leaving just 1/4 inch to turn the seam under (folding the outer curve, make a cut on the inner curve).
I finished my quilt this way on 3 sides. The top of the quilt facing the headboard I filled up the flowers with the same material as the backround and foldet the backing over to the front to make it look like I used a bias strip. The backing of my quilt is the same fabric as the backround.
Cathy Calvo :
I made one a few years ago. I wasn't sure I was capable of negotiating those angled edges, even with bias, so I appliqued mine onto a background of the same color as the outer edges (muslin) and then put binding (matching the color of the ''paths'') on the straight edges. I was a little unsure of how that would come out, but it looks very nice.
Gwen Lundgren :
After it is quilted, you can cut the backing the same size and shape as the front. Then turn under 1/4" on both the quilt top and the back and use a ladder stitch to sew the edges together. This gives you a finish with no binding, the flowers go right to the edge.
Michelle McLendon :
I have two of these lovely quilts. One is bound around all the curves (not an easy task!). The other was pieced with half-block to make an even edge.

Good luck!

Judith Parson :
My great grandmother made a flower garden quilt for me. The flowers were "scrap", the path yellow and the binding green. It is beautiful
Evelyn Stribling :
I finished a quilt for my neighbor, in the flower garden pattern. I made a bias binding out of the color that was on the bottom of the quilt. This worked out very well and was also pretty when finished.
Helen R. Brown :
Assuming the quilt has curved edges, it would be very important to cut the binding strips on the bias. This will make it possible to negotiate the curves.

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