What to Look for in T-shirt Quilt Bindings: 3 Styles Explained

When you make a quilt, a binding is used to cover the raw edges of your quilt’s three layers. In this article I will explain each type of binding and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each.

In the photo here, is an unbound quilt. In the foreground I have circled the raw edge in yellow. 

There are three typical types of bindings you can use on T-shirt quilts; no binding, half binding, and strip binding.

Not all bindings are equal. They each have a different feel and look. If you are looking for a high quality T-shirt quilt, you need to know what’s good, bad and just ugly!

No Binding

A T-shirt blanket does not have a binding. The two raw edges of the blanket and folded under. 

This finishing method is also called the birthing or inside out method.

In the photo here, the pink is the top of the blanket made up of T-shirts. The light blue is the backing fleece. 

What the quilter does is lay the front of the quilt face down onto the good side of the backing material. The front and back are then sewn together around the outside edge of the material. A quilt maker leaves a 4" to 8" wide section that is not sewn. This lets the quilt maker turned right side out through that hole. After the quilt is turned right side out, the opening is stitched closed.

Advantages

• This style doesn't require a skilled quilter.
• No additional fabric is needed for the binding.
• No "blind" stitching is required in the process.
• Keeps the cost of the quilt or blanket very low.

 Disadvantages 

• The binding is not actually a binding.
• You cannot have a contrasting binding color.
• It looks poor.

This type of binding is great for teaching second grader how to make a blanket because they can do it themselves.

Half Binding

In this method of binding, the quilter brings excess backing material around to the front of the quilt. In the photo here you can see how the pink backing material has been brought around to the front of the quilt and sewn down.

With this type of binding, a quilter cuts the backing fabric a few inches larger than the face of the quilt on all four sides of the quilt. This fabric is then folded around to the front of the quilt and then stitched down.

Advantages 

• It's fast and doesn’t require a lot of skill.
• No additional fabric is needed for the binding.
• No "blind" stitching is required in the process.

Disadvantages

• The binding is only one layer thick
• You cannot have a contrasting binding color
• The quilting cannot extend up to the edge of the quilt.

This type of binding is great for teaching middle and high schooler students because it is relatively easy to do.

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Strip Binding or a Full Binding

This is the most sophisticated style of binding. The binding is made from a different piece of material than is on the back of the quilt. 

Because of this, you can use a different color fabric for the binding than you used on the back of your quilt. This means you can have fun choosing a coordinating fabric color that looks great with your T-shirts. Read more about how to choose backing and binding colors for your quilt.

To make this binding, a quilt maker first cuts a strip of binding for each side of the quilt. The quilt maker then folds the strip in half. By folding it in half, the binding is two layers thick. This is good for the longevity of your quilt.

This binding is sewn onto the quilt in two steps. The quilter works on one side of the quilt at a time. The first step is to sew the binding strip on the quilt from the topside of the quilt. The photo here shows a quilter sewing the first step.

In the second step, the binding is folded over and around to the back of the quilt where it is then sewn down. This is where it gets tricky. This is where the skilled quilt maker is needed.

The binding is sewn down to the back of the quilt in one of two ways. The first way is to sew the strip down onto the back of the quilt by hand. Working from the back, the chief difficulty is neat and even hand sewn stitches.

The other method is to sew the strip to the back by sewing from the front of the quilt. This is a blind seam and takes years of practice to do perfectly. This is the binding method that we use here at Too Cool T-shirt Quilts for our quilts.

Advantages

• The binding is two layers thick.
• You can have a contrasting binding color.
• The quilting can extend up to the edge of the quilt.

Disadvantages

• It’s slow and requires a practiced and skilled quilter.
• If the binding is hand sewn to the back of the quilt and if not well done, the stitches may not hold over time.

Conclusion

If you are looking to have a high quality T-shirt quilt made with your T-shirts be sure to look at how a quilter binds his or her quilts. If they are not strip binding their quilts, they are either not skilled quilters or they are trying to save time so they have a higher profit margin.

Here at Too Cool T-shirt Quilts, all our quilts are bound using the strip binding method by highly skilled and experienced quilters. We want your quilt to be awesome. 

Want to learn more about T-shirt quilts? Visit our Learning Center.
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Here's a comparison of a full binding on the left with a half binding on the right.