Janome Binding Finish!

I have just finished a new quilt design, made using these fantastic fabrics

Perfectly Perched by Laurie Wisbrun from Robert Kaufaman fabrics.

Fun, fun, fun :)

Unfortunately, all I can show you is the back of the quilt,

the front will follow at a later date!

What I really wanted to tell you about is a new addition to my Janome Horizon - 

A Quilt Binding Set - yes a speedy way to attach the binding, 

front and back sewn at the same time!

Now when I first opened the packaging, I was totally daunted 

by all the bits and pieces that made up the set.

It's a substantial add on to the machine - my first fear was that I would

end up breaking something on my new machine, just by trying to get it to work!

But my fears were unfounded - I just followed the instructions!
here's how it works:

Firstly attach the binder foot, which comes in the set. 

 Next, remove the bobbin cover plate - nothing painful so far :)

This is the underside of the base plate -  notice the metal rectangle (support plate)

- this fits in, where the bobbin cover plate came off.

 Place the base plate on top of the needle plate,the metal rectangle should fit in neatly.

 Take the specified screw and secure tightly.

This bit of kit is what the fabric is fed through.

Fold out the wiggly wire bit (The tape guide!)

Feed the binding through the wiggly wire, wrong side facing you.

(Binding cut at 2" and end cut diagonally)

Then insert the binding into the guide tube, and use a pin or tweezers to

slide it on into the tube.

Place the binder on the base plate and secure in place with the

two screws supplied.

Pull about 2" of the binding out of the tube and pull at a right angle

to the binder, under the binder foot.

Place the edge of the quilt into the fold of the binding and start sewing!

Keep the edge of the quilt in the binding fold as you sew.

Keep an eye on how the tape is being fed in to the tape guide, 

it is important that the tape doesn't get stuck or distorted.

There it is - finished 1/2" binding in a fraction of the time it normally takes!

I must emphasize that I did practice on a few samples before I actually started on my quilt, but I did find this attachment very useful and certainly time saving!

I know a lot of people still prefer to hand sew the binding in place, 

and I guess if I were making an 'heirloom' I would too! 

But I think this is a great solution to speeding up the binding process on quilts.

Janome have some great tutorials on using the binding set, on You Tube.

The question is, do you machine or hand sew your binding?