4. LLoni's version of Yellow Brick Road, page 3
I've seen enough "Bias Tape" in the store to know what it's supposed to look like. To be honest, if left on my own I probably would have simply bought a dozen or so packages in a close-enough color, and then jammed it over the edge.
Better yet, I probably would have just zig-zagged the edge to seal it, and maybe turned it under and sewed it like a hem in a skirt. But either of those ideas would have given my dear friend and teacher Sue a complete heart attack!
Next on Sue's list for me was to learn to MAKE MY OWN BIAS BINDING. As you can see in the photo below, that included splicing several bias cuts of fabric end to end to make a single length that would go all the way around my now Monster-Size quilt. Learning to fold the fabric and make a straight cut with my ruler and rotary cutter was easier than it looked. Splicing the ends together made sense (to avoid having the seam overlap itself when folded over the edge of the quilt). That process actually went quite well.
I probably could have done a better job of squaring my corners before I attached the custom-made bias binding. And in the future I will definitely "trim" the seam allowance down to the 1/4" straight before I even start with the binding. But for a first piece, I wasn't going to be entering in any quilt shows or asking for blue ribbons on my work. Egads, I was too grateful to have gotten this far to be complaining about anything I didn't do right the first time!
Below is a photo of the finished quilt. It's spread out on a Queen Size bed to get the whole thing in the shot.
My first "FINISHED" quilt experience. That was late November 2007. It still covers my day-bed; keeps me warm in the winter, and sometimes gets tossed off the foot of the bed in summer. Possibly some day when I've made a new one for the bed, I'll hang this one on a wall as my Certificate Of Completion of my first quilt. I love it!
