by Sandra | November 7th, 2009
Well, not exactly but the removed binding sure looks like it huh? I guess I still have Halloween on the brain. One way to seriously motivate myself to get an undesirable task done is to have something I really want to do waiting in the wings on the personal stipulation I finish the looming and despised task before starting the fun stuff.
I know myself very well and I know that if I went ahead and started Jason’s quilt without going back and fixing the binding issue on the previous quilt, I would procrastinate and it would either, A) never get done, or B) I would hurry to get it done against a deadline and it would probably not turn out so well. So I make deals with myself. Get the bleep-in task over with first and then I can do the fun bit.
What would we do without seam rippers?
There was always something else that bothered me about this binding that I couldn’t quite figure out because of brain freeze when it was finished, but I knew I had done something wrong. I was right, I had made a fatal error on a most basic sewing task. Don’t ask me what it was because I am embarrassed I failed to recognize what was wrong and it was a humbling ”duh” moment. Just know that I am not beneath screwing up a beginning level sewing technique OK?
So in a way, it was a good thing I had to change out that binding or I would have felt humiliated by such a dense blunder. To err is human, right?
I learned two things from this binding issue, 1) go with my gut instinct to begin with when it comes to fabric choice, and 2) if I have a feeling something looks wrong technically, then figure it out and fix it before calling it done. Even if I am so over the project.
Like I tell my kids, you can’t learn anything if you don’t make mistakes. I made a couple of whoppers so I am good to go now for awhile.
all contents ©2009 Sandra Leichner
If it makes you feel better I just made 12 blocks when I only needed 6 and to top it off, I had to scrounge around for fabric in my stash and spent at least 2hrs trying to figure out how to get enough fabric to finish all 12 of them . Maybe I should pay more attention to directions , than scurrying thru , thinking I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING . LOL !
I guess we all are in this boat (begining level screw up ) more than we would like to admit !
Well, at least you’ve finished part of it, anyway. Have you figured out, yet, what fabric you’ll bind it with? I am looking at the photos closely, and it looks like you do your binding “differently” from what I thinnk is considered “normal” – why is that? “Normal” is cutting the binding strip, say, 2 1/2 or 2 1/4 inches, folding in half, pressing, then sewing this to the top edge of the quilt, etc, etc. It looks like you’ve taken your strip and folded both cut sides to the middle – what’s that about?
Hang in there – Jason’s quilt is waiting! And so are we!
Yes Boop, we need to be humbled once in awhile to keep us honest and egos in check. Perfection is a target that is always just out of reach and when we start to think we are above mistakes, it slaps us around to face reality. I get slapped around a lot. LOL
Michelle, this is a continous bias binding instead of a straight grain binding because I made a slightly scalloped edge. It is cut 2″ wide and folded in half just as in the usual way. It looks like it is folded to the center in the photo, but that is a fluke.
I sew my miters when most people do the folded miters. I am working on a tutorial about how to do that per Sara’s request.
Michelle, the purple fabric in the top photo is the new binding fabric. See how off I was? I played it too safe in the end with my color choice. Bad Sandra.
Well, you’ve used the purple in the quilt, too – I’ll bet it will make a stunning frame!
Not sure what you even mean by sewing your miters, so will be standing by for that demo!
oh !! I think that purple is perfect !!!
Thanks Miss Boop
The mystery will be solved Michelle, I promise, on those sewn binding miters.