Why I needed skinny little binding

 Here's my new Brochettes sample for an improved pattern cover.

Brochettes placemats and runner by Canuck Quilter Designs

I love my original sample.  I'm very happy with how it looks in person, but some quilt projects just don't work well in a small thumbnail image of a pattern cover.  This was one of those so I needed a new version.

You're probably wondering what this has to do with skinny little binding.  Well, maybe you aren't wondering, but I would be. Here's a hint:

Mini versions of a Brochette placemat and runner

Isn't it fun how the lack of context messes with our perception of the size of something?  With the mug added, you can see that these are not the full size placemats and runner you'd get if you followed the pattern. These mini versions used pieces that finish at half the size the pattern calls for, which resulted in placemats and a runner that are one quarter the size of the original. 

But why?  Why make minis?  When I looked through my stash for a new colour combo for the new sample, these fabrics jumped out.  They are Heavy Metal batiks from Island Batik's Fall/Winter 2023 collections and I only had scraps left.  There wasn't enough for a full size placemat and runner, but once I envisioned them in this colour combo I couldn't unsee them.  The rest of my stash just did not measure up!  I did some math and was thrilled to see I could manage a mini version.  As long as I kept everything to scale and photographed the set without anything else to hint at the actual size nobody would have to know!

Quilting the mini placemat, thinking it was super cute before I realized
a regular binding would be weirdly wide in comparison

That's where the skinny little binding come in.  When I came up with the grand plan to make these mini tricksters, I forgot about the binding.  The usual 1/4 inch binding sewn to these smaller versions would look  very odd.  It would either clue people in that these are actually smaller, or it would look like wierdly wide binding.  To match the scale of the placemat, the binding would have to finich at 1/8" wide.

Ha!  I could make 1/8" binding!  I thought I could just add binding with a 1/4" seam allowance as usual (because that would be easier than sewing with an 1/8" allowance right?) them I could trim off some of the seam allowance to make it skinnier before I folded the binding to the back.  Ooops, I forgot about the pesky corners.  Stitching goes all the way to the edge of the seam allowance at the coner, so trimming away the seam allowance there involved some ripping and...you know what?  You don't need the details.  It was a bad idea.

Anyhow, after much ripping and trimming and finagling, I was able to stitch the binding to the back, stitching in the ditch from the front and catching binding on the back.  

1/8" binding looking so tiny and delicate

It looks pretty good on the straight bits, but I'm not showing you a close-up of the corners.  They're a bit gnarly up close, but you can't see that at pattern cover photo size, so they'll do.

Before binding the runner I Googled a bit to see if I could find tips for making mini binding, but all I could find were tips on adding 1/4" binding to tiny quilts.  I quite definitely wanted 1/8" binding.  The one thing I took away from my search was that single fold binding would be better.  One tutorial I found added the binding fabric as though adding a border.  I thought that seemed like a good idea.  It ceratinly made trimming the seam allowance easier.  The method also didn't give a mitered corner, but I would have been OK with that.  I was looking for tidy, mitered or not.  Well, at the scale I was working with, seams were getting in the way and it didn't work.  I finally figured out a method that controlled the bullk in the corners, but the last corner was a bit of a mess no matter what I did.  So, in short, I can't share a good method with you.  I'm not sure I want to keep experimenting with this, but if I do make a mini again and experiment with super skinny binding again, and come up with some good tips, I'll let you know. 

I'm still really happy with my little minis.  I think they're super cute, and they'll dress up a small table quite nicely.  My coffee addicted hubby wants the placemat mini for a mug rug.

I'm also quite pleased with the new pattern cover.  The original one is on the left.  I think you can see the design so much more clearly on the new cover.  I feel better about submitting this to distributors now, so hopefully you may see this pattern in shops soon.  Until then you can get a PDF download version in my Etsy shop.

Original and revised pattern covers for Brochettes

Next up, I'm going back to normal scale sewing !  Patchwork Wishes now has borders and is waiting for quilting.  I have regular 2 1/4" double fold binding ready and waiting for a an easy 1/4" binding! That said, if you have tips on making mini binding, send them my way in case I lose my mind again and try another mini :)

Happy quilting,

Joanne