Favorite Tools for Hand Binding

Binding your quilts by hand can be time consuming, but it always produces beautiful results. Admittedly, it’s not our favorite way to finish quilts (because we’re always short on time), but when we’ve spent a long time on piecing and custom quilting a quilt, it seems a shame to speed through the binding phase and ruin the rest of the efforts. We hand bind quilts that will be featured in books, magazines, and potentially in quilt shows.

When we do have the time to sit down and bind a quilt, we don’t want to be distracted by tangled thread, too short of needles, or dull scissors. Here are our favorite tools to get the job done without wanting to tear our hair out.

OLFA Precision Applique Scissors

These 5″ scissors made by OLFA are some of the best little scissors we’ve ever used. They work really well for cutting fabric for appliqué, but we have found that they are also a fantastic multi-purpose tool, and they are just the right size to bring along with you wherever you’re working on a binding. Get a pair here: OLFA Precision Applique Scissors (aff. link)*

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Size 7 Embroidery Needles

Jeana Kimball’s Foxglove Cottage makes our favorite needles for sewing on quilt binding by hand. The size 7 needles are meant for embroidery or wool appliqué, but their size and length also make them wonderful to work with for binding. They are thinner than many other needles their length, so it’s easier to manipulate the needle and keep from catching the front of the quilt. Find them here: Size 7 Embroidery Needles (aff. link)

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Wonder Clips

Wonder clips are the best thing to come to quilting in the recent past. You can find quite a few different brands of these now, but the original clips from Clover are still the best quality. We have tried some other, cheaper brands, but they haven’t lasted quite as well. Since we hate using pins, these are a great alternative, especially so when working with leather or other materials that would be damaged by pins. You won’t regret getting yourself a handful, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at all the uses you find for them. My six-year-old son especially loves playing with them. Find Wonder Clips here: Wonder Clips (aff. link)

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Thread Gloss

If you only choose one of these items to start using for your hand binding, let it be thread gloss. This thread conditioner coats your thread with beeswax, keeping it from getting tangled up and knotted on itself. Honestly, this has made hand binding so much more bearable for us. As a bonus, it also strengthens your thread to keep it from breaking while you’re sewing. We get our thread gloss from Kim at robotmomsews.

(Also, thanks to Cami for gifting me this cute one shaped like a spool of thread! You can see from the tiny grooves how many times I’ve used it to coat thread.)

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50 Weight Aurifil Thread

We use 50 weight thread almost exclusively for piecing, quilting, and hand binding. Aurifil makes nice thread in lots of colors. We don’t suggest using it for hand sewing, unless you’ve treated it with thread gloss. On its own, it is very fine and tangles easily. Thread gloss nearly eliminates the tangling issue, so in the end it’s still our favorite choice. The reason we love to use it the most is that the thread practically disappears once you’ve sewn your binding on. Just make sure to lay the thread out on top of your fabric to make sure it’s a good match. There are so many colors of Aurifil thread to choose from, but you can get this basic set here: 50 Weight Aurifil Thread (aff. link)

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That’s really all there is to it! We don’t really use anything else for hand binding our quilts, besides a comfy couch and a good movie. You could grab a thimble to protect your fingers, but after getting a few quilts under your belt, you’ll quit poking yourself. (Ask us how we know!) We have spent so much time looking around for the perfect thimble, that by now it’s not a problem anymore, and we never did end up getting one. What about you? Do you have any go-to supplies for hand binding that we’re missing out on? Do you like to do binding by hand, or is it all done by machine? Let us know in the comments!

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