It's so fun when....

...i discover a tool that makes my life just a little bit easier.

  Okay...A LOT!!

Many of you are familiar with Linda Hrcka aka: The Quilted Pineapple.  

photo belongs to Linda Hrcka

Linda developed and sells great acrylic rulers...extremely useful rulers,

for longarmers... 

AND domestic machine quilters too, like Karen Miller of the

Red Bird Quilt Co.  

photo belongs to Karen Miller

I recently received Linda's new QP Edge Straight Ruler set and could not WAIT to try them out!  

photo belongs to Linda Hrcka

I've been doing lots of edge to edge quilting lately with no chance to play with my new rulers.  I was getting ready to sew a binding onto a client's quilt and had a huge ah ha moment! :)

I sew bindings on, using my longarm.

If you've not done this before, i'm going to take you through a quick tut showing you how!

Back in 2012, i wrote a blog post called 'The Trip Around My Longarm...' demonstrating how to attach a binding using a longarm quilting machine.  It's easy to do, but i always struggled with one important element; maintaining the quarter inch.  Until Now! YIPPEEE!!!

Here's How....
Finish machine quilting the quilt and while the quilt is still loaded on the longarm, place the beginning of the binding strip about 2/3rds of the way down the right side of the quilt.  Leave an unstitched beginning tail at least 12" long, and start to sew.  (see second picture for ruler placement)

Each line (even the dashed lines) on Linda's QP Edge Straight rulers represent 1/4".   Place the appropriate line on top of the binding fold.  The ruler provides a nice steady straight edge to follow and maintains the quarter inch seam.  

*(The binding below is cut 2-1/2", therefore the 'prepared folded binding' measures 1-1/4".  My hopping foot measures 1/2".  I have placed the 3/4" line of the ruler on top of the binding fold.)    Make sense?

Before Linda's rulers, i would try to manually keep the edge of my hopping foot even with the raw edge of the binding with no support from a ruler.  I never had one that offered these great markings.     

The Next 3 pictures show how to handle the corners....

Stop a 1/4" from the end of the quilt, take a small back stitch, then move the needle away from the corner.  I have my needle set to the down position when i stop.  Just leave the needle down and follow the next couple pictures.

 Fold the binding away from the quilt, creating a right angle.

Fold the binding back over, keeping the 'right angle fold' in place underneath.  

Move the needle back into place.  Using a line from the ruler as the guide, take a couple back stitches and continue to attach the binding.  

This picture shows the binding sewn to the bottom of the quilt.

The next 3 pictures show the binding up the left side of the quilt and mitering the top left hand corner.

The left hand corner has been mitered and stitched into place.  The lines on the ruler are creating a nice right angle with the binding. The binding is being sewn to the top of the quilt.

Zipping right along the top!  The ruler line is following the binding fold and hopping foot is on the raw edge of the binding!  LOVE!!

Final top right hand corner!

Back on the right side of the quilt...heading towards the beginning tail

Leave an approximate 12" unstitched ending tail.  
I take a back stitch in both beginning and ending tails.  

Take the quilt off the longarm and trim the entire quilt using....

what else?  Linda's QP Edge Straight Ruler!  SWEET!!

But Wait!  There's More!  LOL

Notice in the picture above, the rulers also have 45 degree angle markings?   Use one to draw the diagonal line necessary when attaching the binding tails!  

Sew the beginning and ending tails together, and the remaining unstitched binding on a domestic sewing machine.  

Important note:  When using acrylic rulers, i always have a longarm ruler base attached.  

Get your own QP Rulers   You'll love them!!!