How I Prepare Quilt Binding

Hey all, sorry for my absence the past couple of days..this week has kind of flown by. BUT guess what?!?! Almost hubby and I did get something fancy and awesome-- a brandy new camera. A Nikon D3100. Oh my gosh, it takes really awesome pictures and has amazing features that I never even dreamt of. haha. But really, all we've ever had were point and shoot cameras, so this is awesome. And we both have a lot to learn on it, but so far we love it. =).
Okay, so I'm sure you'll all be relieved to hear that I finished quilting Chelsea's quilt, and tied off all the threads. Whew, thank goodness right? I prepped the binding today, and will (hopefully!) be actually binding the quilt tomorrow. I thought I'd show you how I like to prep the binding. Now, let me preface this by saying that I am obviously by no means an expert, that there might be (and probably are) better ways to do this, and I'm sure that I'm not the first to do it this way..but in case you're interested I'll show you anyway.
  Unless I am doing a curved edge I don't really think it's necessary for the strips to be cut on the bias. Again, I am not an expert =) For this quilt I'm doing mitered corners, and the fabric doesn't need to be stretchy for that. Now, normally I would cut long strips of fabric 2.5" wide. In this case, however, Chelsea's grandmother already had cut binding strips, they happen to be 2" wide. No biggie, we can definitely make it work, I just have to be more precise when binding the quilt.
Okay, so we have these strips of fabric. In order to make the binding long enough for your project you will probably have to join multiple strips together. Place the ends of two strips of fabric, right sides together forming the shape of an upside down and backwards L. Like this:

Next you need to sew the strips together using a straight stitch.

After that, trim the excess length off the edge for about a 1/4" seam allowance.Open it up and admire how easy it was.

 

Now we need to press the binding in half, wrong sides together. The great thing about joining the binding strips this way is that the seam kind lays itself out nicely without having to press it flat. 

 Finally, if you're like me and do things right before work, therefore you don't have enough time to finish things..find a little piece of cardboard and wrap your newly pressed binding to keep it safe. Leave it in a visible place so it jogs your memory to finish your project. If you aren't like me then go ahead and bind your quilt. If you want to see how I do it, I will post that tomorrow. Enjoy.