Secret Garden Hexie Quilt

Part 4: Trim and Bind your Quilt.

20. Trim your quilt top with the quilting ruler and rotary cutter. Line up the edge of the stitches with the 1/4” line on your ruler and cut. This method will cut the points off the hexagons on the sides of your quilt, but I prefer this method to adding filler triangles to the side!

21. Sew the binding strips together end to end using diagonal seams. Press the binding in half wrong sides together.

22. Trim and press the seams flat as you get to them.

23. Lay the binding along the edge of the quilt so that the raw edges are in line with the quilt edge, and the folded side is facing towards the quilt. Leaving an 8" tail of binding (Evie’s pointing at where you start your sewing!), sew the binding to the quilt through all layers, 1/4” from the edge.

24. To miter corners, finish sewing 1/4” from the corner. Turn the quilt 90 degrees, ready to sew the next side. Fold the binding up, and then down towards the quilt. Start sewing again from the edge of the fold.

25. Stop approximately 12" from where you started. Lay both loose ends of binding flat along quilt edge. Where these two loose ends meet, fold them back on themselves and press to form a crease. Using this crease as your stitching line, sew the two open ends of the binding together right sides together.

26. Double check your binding lays flat, and then trim seam to 1/4" and press open. Finish sewing binding to quilt.

Notes for beginners: This next section for hand-stitching your binding down is not the method I usually use. I usually machine sew my binding down, but it’s tricky and requires practice. You can search for tutorials to see if there’s other methods you prefer. I chose this one because I thought it was the simplest, and looks lovely. If you don’t have Perle Cotton like I’ve used here, you can use regular thread.

27. Tie a knot in your perle cotton, and thread the needle at the other end.

28. Poke your needle under the binding and up through the fabric near the edge and pull. This will hide the knot.

29. Use a running stitch to sew down your binding. (My kids learned this stitch at school and call it Dolphin Stitch. How cute is that?!) Aim to sew through the binding, backing, and some of the batting, but avoid sewing through the quilt top.

30. I recommend using Clover Clips to hold your binding down for several inches. Once you reach the closest one, move it to the end of the line. It makes the process easier!

31. Once you reach the end of a piece of thread, knot it near the last stitch, and then pull it through the binding, into the back of the quilt. Tug until the knot pulls through the binding, and then trim the excess at the quilt.

32. Enjoy your new quilt! You can machine wash it on gentle, dry it in the shade, or on a cool drying cycle. Quilts make great picnic rugs, capes and cubbies. Make sure you use yours!

Take a photo and share it on Instagram. Use the #secretgardenhexiequilt hashtag so we can all see!