The Baby Quilt: Time to Finish it!

You are nearly there! Just a couple more things to do, and they are super easy!

Step 10: Trim the back fabric to be about 1 inch wider than the quilt top on all sides. You can do this with your rotary cutter and ruler. Make sure this is very straight (like when you squared the edges of your fabric)

Triming the backing fabric to approx. 1 in. larger than the quilt top

Step 11: Cut 4 strips of fabric 2.5 inches wide from the printed flannel. Sew these strips together to form one long piece. Place this strip right side down on the quilt top, lining the edges up (line up the quilt top edge, not the quilt backing edge). I like to start in the middle of one side. I leave about 4 inches of fabric as a bit of a 'tail' at the end, before I start sewing (this gives me fabric to work with to join the 2 ends as I make my way around the quilt). Sew this with a .5 inch seam.

Sewing the binding strip to the edge of the quilt top

Step 12: When you get to a corner, fold the strip back onto itself like this:

Strip folded onto itself to form a corner

Step 13: When you have sewn the binding strip all the way around the quilt top it's time to bind it! Flip the biding strip right side up.

Binding stip flipped right side up

Step 14: Fold the binding strip in half, with the cut edge towards the back of the quilt. Then fold in onto itself one more time. Like this:

Binding folded once towards the back                                                             Binding folded onto itself one more time

Step 15:  After you've folded a small section (see above) take your threaded needle (with a small length of thread and a knot at the bottom) and start a stich from behind the folded binding. Make sure you catch the backing fabric and bring the needle up through the fold of the binding like this:

Hand stitching the binding to the backing.

Keep stitching and folding all the way around the edges of the quilt. When you are finished the binding should lay flat on the front and back.

Congratulations! You've finished a quilt! I told you could do it!