Bias tape, binding and photo heavy.

I have a mental list of things I don't know how to do (sewing wise) that I think I should know how to do. It includes zippers, buttonholes, ruffles/pleating and elastic. I'm sure there is more but that is what comes immediately to mind.

However! Thanks to the patient efforts of my dear sweet mother, binding is no longer on that list. That little item was beginning to feel like a 10 page paper I hadn't written and  I am so glad to get it off of my list.

There are so many very good tutorials so what follows isn't really one. I took photos of the process so that I could remember how to do it next time without having to bother me' mam.

Started stitching in the middle, rather than a corner, with enough binding to overlap. This is the back side of the piece.  I forgot to fold the initial edge under so it looks more finished but for this test piece it looks just fine. 

 

I sewed almost to the edge of each corner, stopping at about 1/4 of an inch before and then starting on the next side.

Folding  the tape over like this means there'll be enough fabric to go to the other side and it will look mitered on this side. 

Then I flipped it over, and folded over the binding. It's possible I used pins, but unlikely. It was a little tricky at the corners, but nearly as scary/impossible as I had previously thought.

My mother is generally a woman of few thread colors. She knows what she likes and she sticks to it. So I was puzzled when she brought out the box of many colors and asked me 3 different times what color thread I wanted.  Once I was done however, I understood. Matching thread means that if your stitches are at all wobbly, it won't show.  Since this was a test, only a test, it's no big deal, but I'll be certain to all kinds of matchy-matchy next time.