I’ve used the Baby Lock Crescendo for piecing and quilting on several projects. But I haven’t used it for making and adding binding – until now! I’m not sure why, but I’ve always done these final finishing steps on my own machine.
This time, I was ready to add the binding to a quilt my daughter made and my son was using my machine. So I decided to make and attach the binding on the Crescendo.
As expected, everything went great! Here are some of the things I liked best about making and attaching binding on the Baby Lock Crescendo.
Joining Binding Strips
Joining strips for binding is super easy on the Crescendo using the Laser or Guideline Marker. I like to join my binding strips on the diagonal to reduce the seam bulk. Usually, I just kind of eyeball it or use the seam marker tape I’ve added to the extension table on my machine. And it usually works just fine.
But it’s even easier on the Baby Lock Crescendo. I just set the laser to line up with the needle. I place my two binding strips at a 90 degree angle. Then I can use the laser line as a guide to sew from corner to corner of the binding strips.
Once all the strips are sewn together, I just trim the corners and my binding is ready for pressing.
Pressing Binding
After all the strips are joined, I press my binding in half before adding it to the quilt. I find that this pressing step helps keep everything in line when sewing it to the quilt top.
Sewing Binding to Top of Your Quilt
After the binding is pressed, it’s time to sew it to your quilt. I usually machine sew it first to the top of the quilt and hand stitch the back down. Sometimes I do the opposite and machine sew to the back and hand stitch to the front. Both are fun options and work well. It just depends on your preference.
My daughter wanted the hand stitching on the back of her quilt so for this project I used the Crescendo to sew the binding to the front of the quilt.
Before starting to sew the binding to the finished quilt, I replaced the ¼” foot with the dual feed (or walking) foot. This helps move all layers of the quilt and binding evenly through the machine.
Again, I used the laser to help me keep the quilt and the binding moving in a straight line through the machine. For this step, I moved the laser as far to the right as it would go – which is a touch more than ¼”. I typically use between ¼” and ⅜” seam allowance for adding binding.
Then I lined up the edge of the binding with the edge of the quilt top. As I sewed, I kept the edges in line with the laser guide. Super easy!
That’s it! I loved using the Baby Lock Crescendo to make and attach quilt binding!
If you want to see more of what I’m working on, you can find me on Instagram @jamiesquiltstudio