Cheating the binding

In article . com,
"redpenner" wrote:

What I meant was, the ladies were telling me that the judges at the
quilt show would criticize my quilts for the flat binding. Not that I
care what the guild ladies say, but I do have hopes one day of winning
some kind of ribbon at a show...

Well, that is true. When I have scribed for judges they generally will
give the binding a squeeze and comment if it is empty at the edges.

Either...sew the binding at a quarter to 3/8 inch as you do now but trim
the sandwich a bit wider. Or. cut your strips at 2 1/4 instead of 2 1/2.

marcella

Sorry, Kate. Just my (very) lame attempt at a joke for our new
'redpenner'!
..
In message , Kate G.
writes
My guess is she is referring to "polly esther"....

Kate in MI




--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

I got it, Patti. At least you didn't sideswipe us with another pun. Polly

"Patti" wrote Sorry, Kate. Just my (very) lame attempt at a joke for our
new
'redpenner'!

As long as the batting extends to the edge of the quilt I can't see you
being penalized in a show. In any show guidlines I have read it usually
states something to the effect of ......... nevermind......... this is
exactly what the CQA standards are in regards to binding

Binding
- Should be securely stitched
- Should be uniformly filled with filler
- Should be appropriate to the design of the quilt top
- If bias binding used, it should be true bias
- Curved corners should flow smoothly without puckers
- Square corners should be perfect 90 degrees
- Other corners should be consistent in appearance
- When turned to the back of the quilt, binding stitches should be
inconspicuous

I don't think there should be 'extra' batting in the binding, there
should be as much batting in the binding as there is in the quilt
itself. It isn't trapunto!



redpenner wrote:
I'm finishing a couple of quilts for our local quilt show, and I've
been advised by the ladies in my quilt guild that my bindings are too
flat (even though that's the way I like them). What is the current
feeling on "padding" the binding with strips of batting before sewing
it down?

Yep - bindings "should" be the same thickness all the way
through, no flat edges with no batting inside. Also wears
better that way as you don't get any folded points that wear
to small holes. I wouldn't "pad" my bindings to be thicker
than my quilt unless it was a design feature like some of
the fancy ruched/piped edges.

But as the others said - there are no real quilt police. Do
what you are happy with, or maybe ask for a judge's comments
on bindings.


Heck - I overlock some of my raw quilt edges and wrap the
binding tight over that, just to get a nice firm flat
hardwearing egde.
--
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"Marcella Peek" wrote in message
...
: In article
. com,
: "redpenner" wrote:
:
: What I meant was, the ladies were telling me that the
judges at the
: quilt show would criticize my quilts for the flat
binding. Not that I
: care what the guild ladies say, but I do have hopes one
day of winning
: some kind of ribbon at a show...
:
: Well, that is true. When I have scribed for judges they
generally will
: give the binding a squeeze and comment if it is empty at
the edges.
:
: Either...sew the binding at a quarter to 3/8 inch as you
do now but trim
: the sandwich a bit wider. Or. cut your strips at 2 1/4
instead of 2 1/2.
:
: marcella

Howdy!

So now you know what most of the judges at quilt shows are looking
for w/ the binding; they don't want to feel an empty pocket there
when they are expecting batting to fill that binding.

Altho' the common cliché is "there are no quilt police" --
well, there are, too. g You mention winning a ribbon some day,
so you'll have to enter competition and follow some rules
set up by a committee of other quilters.
Quilt show judges are looking for certain techniques to be
finished certain ways. Binding that is sufficiently filled but not stuffed,
mitered corners that lie flat and make a 90* turn, quilting that fills the
surface evenly without leaving big areas unquilted, and other proof that
the quilter(s) did the best job to Finish this quilt, put the extra effort
into it.
http://www.nqaquilts.org/judgesabout.html

As for what the other quilters say, well, even the self-professed experts
and/or professionals don't always get it right. G
I was at the Ft.Worth quilt show yesterday, looking and listening.
One of the quilters said she didn't agree w/ the judges' evaluation on
her quilt because her machine quilter, a Professional!!, told her
"this is the way this is supposed to be!", while the rest of us were
noting that her quilt was only partially quilted. g There were
large areas of the quilt that had not been touched by thread.
(I saw way too many quilts in that condition; lots of heavy quilting
in some blocks while other blocks were sparsely quilted if at all.)
The ribbon winners had obviously, very obviously taken time to do a
Good Job, really put some extra work into the quilts, taking pride in the
product. Why else enter competition?
And, btw, the Best in Show Winner was handquilted. VBG

I have a lot to learn about quilting. And what judges look for, over all.
http://tinyurl.com/f5g4f
http://www.quilttownusa.com/Town_Hall/LCexperts.htm

Good luck, R/p!

Ragmop/Sandy-- I like the way the Ft.Worth show brings out the handquilters
;-D

On 9/18/06 2:22 PM, in article
, "redpenner"
wrote:

What I meant was, the ladies were telling me that the judges at the
quilt show would criticize my quilts for the flat binding. Not that I
care what the guild ladies say, but I do have hopes one day of winning
some kind of ribbon at a show...


Jessamy wrote:

many times "the ladies at the quilt guild" are trying to be quilt police and
make people do things their way - since there are no quilt police, do what
*you* like, and smile and mumble something to the ladies in question when
they next try to police ;-)
--
Jessamy
In The Netherlands
Take out: _I love the colour_ to reply.
www.geocities.com/jessamy_thompson
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jes...pson/my_photos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

wrote:
Cutting the binding strip width at 2 l/4" will work, too. That's what I
always use, unless my quilt batting is thicker. (don't use fat batt
much) I do know judges look for a filled binding, and also that the
mitered corners are sewn, front and back. HTH Nancycog in MD


Me too

(cutting binding at 2 1/4 " - not having my corners sewn)

Hanne in London

"Sandy Ellison" wrote in message
...

Altho' the common cliché is "there are no quilt police" --
well, there are, too. g You mention winning a ribbon some day,
so you'll have to enter competition and follow some rules
set up by a committee of other quilters.

There are no Quilt Police -- there ARE Ribbon Police. ;-P

(I confess I've always wanted to tell someone "Put your hands on your head,
back away from the quilt slowly, and no one gets hurt." *snort*)

--
Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
Queen of Fabric Tramps

http://fabrictramp.typepad.com/fabric_tramping/
remove the obvious to reply

Get yourself a squirt gun and go for it Kathy.

You gotta be more professional than snorting while
doing it though or nobody will take you seriously LOL
Taria


Kathy Applebaum wrote:


There are no Quilt Police -- there ARE Ribbon Police. ;-P

(I confess I've always wanted to tell someone "Put your hands on your head,
back away from the quilt slowly, and no one gets hurt." *snort*)

"Taria" wrote in message
news:Y0TPg.1002$GO2.572@trnddc01...

Get yourself a squirt gun and go for it Kathy.

You gotta be more professional than snorting while
doing it though or nobody will take you seriously LOL
Taria

That explains SO much! LOL

--
Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
Queen of Fabric Tramps

http://fabrictramp.typepad.com/fabric_tramping/
remove the obvious to reply