Rainbow Binding Tutorial

As promised here is a tutorial on how to make the rainbow binding you can see on my Eye Spy Quilt!

1. Cut 1.5" strips from your rainbow fabrics (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo/Purple, Violet/Pink = 1 group of strips).  The strips should be approx. 13" long (you can cut longer but I find sewing longer, thin strips increases the chances of wobbly seams!).

I have 2 groups of strips laid out here.

2. Sew each group of strips together using a 1/4" seam.  You can have as many 'groups' of rainbow strips as you wish (for my 37" square quilt I needed approx 7 groups). 

3. Join the groups together and iron the seams open.

4. Lay the piece on your cutting mat with the strips going horizontally across the mat.  Cut 2.5" strips.

5. Join these new strips together, piecing the pink end to the red end so that the rainbow pattern continues in order.  You should now have a long rainbow patterned strip.

6. To calculate how much binding you need to go round your quilt, add up the 4 sides of your quilt & add 10".  Keep adding strips to your rainbow binding until you have enough.

7. Iron the long rainbow strip in half lengthways.  Because of so many internal seams, I found it easier to pin the top of the strip as I was folding, making sure the seams stay open inside the binding.  Then I ironed the binding flat with the pins still in.

8. If you are not sewing your binding onto your quilt straight away, it is a good idea to wrap it around a piece of cardboard to keep it flat.

9. You are now ready to sew your binding onto your quilt.  There are numerous tutorials out there on how to do this.  Check out Red Pepper Quilts and Crazy Mom Quilts to name but a few.

Have fun making your own rainbow binding.