Fussy Binding

I spoke to a friend on the phone the other day and we got to talking about how to finish a quilt she was working on.  I told her how I was going to finish my red quilt and she said, "Oh, your'e going to fussy-bind it."  I had never heard the term before, even though it's something I have done many times.

When I finish an art quilt I usually don't want to put a traditional binding on it, but will face it instead.  But often I don't like the way the corners come out, even though I've tried several methods. So I will "fussy-bind" it, which means that will I piece the binding to match the quilt. What I've done in the past is to piece each side and sew it on, but then I have to have butted corners, when I so prefer mitered.

   

For this red piece I started sewing the binding on one side and kept piecing as I went along, so that I could get those mitered corners.  Ignore the lumpy look of the binding; that's because it's still pinned on the back.  When I hand sew it down, it will be very smooth.  Same thing for the mitered corner.