The Finishing Details - Part 2

Part 1 to this series on The Finishing Details is here.   For those of you joining me, these posts are about the detailed work involved in finishing a quilt, once the quilting is done.  

I can happily report that the binding is on this beast.  It measures 72" square, but because the edge is scalloped, it takes more like 78" of binding per side.  Believe me, I am measuring it too!  When I finished the last finishing post, I had just stitched on the double piping.  I was waiting for the actual binding fabric to arrive.  It came to me 8 days ago, so all things considered, this is one of my fastest bindings to finish.  Some bindings take me 2-3 weeks.  I dedicated some hard time during the day to doing it because I have some commitments coming up, and need this done.

 One edge of the sleeve is hand stitched down too.  I will get to the other this week.

I found a deep blue/indigo/black batik.  It's not the exact fabric of the quilt, but close enough.  This binding took nearly a yard to make bias binding.  To cut the binding, stitch it into a continuous strip, and press it so it's ready to stitch to the quilt - 45 minutes.

Stitching the binding to the quilt...not so fast.  This quilt does have a mere 48 scallops, which is a far cry from my Big Bertha (which has something like 98), but the fact that the fabric is dark, and the double pipings make the process slower.  It is very hard to see exactly where to sew with such dark fabrics.  To machine sew the binding to the quilt - about 3-1/2 hours.

Of course there is more than just putting the needle to the binding and having it done.  I often have to go back and modify where the line of stitching falls so that the binding ends up right beside the piping, nice and tight. All in all, I am mostly pleased with the binding.  The "peaks" at the scallop inverted V's are more rounded, but I guess that is to be expected with double piping.

Hand stitching of the binding to the backside took me right at 12 hours.  Honestly, I am very surprised that it was not longer than that.  Felt like forever.

 (still didn't get the miters hand stitched down when this photo was taken, but rest assured that this IS done.  Judges look for that sort of thing!)

Regarding the finish work...there is more BUT with the sleeve nearly on and the binding done, I can cut my losses at any time and call it done.  I have a couple of things to fix that I have found while staring at the binding all week.  That was bound to happen.

 Last step in the Finishing for this quilt is adding some crystals.  I pick and choose which quilts get crystals, as there are 1-2 judges out there that really ding you hard for them.  Seriously, I think that this quilt is enhanced by the crystals, so I am taking the time to put them on, regardless of the outcome.  Here's a peek at one corner...these are teeny-tiny, size 6!  There are others that are much larger.  On another post I will show what I am doing with the crystals, as they are tastefully arranged, and not just stuck on willy-nilly.  Hopefully this will be the last thing I do before I send this puppy off to its first show.

 Label...It is on...a whopping 60 minutes to cut, write, turn the edge under and hand stitch.  It's really nothing fancy. OK, it's on the ugly side, but it is DONE!

Yesterday was a snow day, which means that there was not much quilting to be done.  I stayed upstairs with my troops and worked on designs for an upcoming quilt that I hope to load within 2-3 weeks!  Until then...sew on!