Using a Binder Foot attachment

This binder foot attachment didn't actually come with my machine, my mother in-law gave it to me to try. I sew on 100's of metres of binding so I wouldn't use one of these attachments as the process has become habit for me, but for someone who learning to add binding, this may just be the thing. It does not add the binding in the tradional double stitch way, it is the single stitch method. All brands will have their own attachment so check with your manufacturer. This foot is for a Janome.
  • The packet said the binding was to be 5mm maximum width - I used a 12mm single folded bias and it worked fine.
  • Before attaching the foot to your machine, add binding down shaft.
  • Pull binding through - leave a tail the approximate length shown Remove the lower section of your regular sewing foot and add attachment with the binding in place.
  • Add fabric between the bias tail and begin to sew.
  • Using your left hand, position the fabric & binding together before they are fed through the binder.
  • Going slow is the key.
  • The result was great. It added the binding evenly on both sides.
  • The only tricky part was finishing off - fine if you were running the binding off in a straight line to the end of the fabric. If you were needing a join the binding, it becomes a little harder to finish off. I would have a practise on a scrap before doing this on your project.
Post Edited 2/7/2010 - This post has been added to the Canadian Jamone team blog - Janome Life. It also gives you more great tips on using the binding foot.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

So when you say the 'single stitch' method instead of 'double stitch' you mean instead of sewing one side then folding it over and sewing the other, it feeds the binding through so you can sew both sides at once?

Jodie @ The Haby Goddess said...

Yes Bree that's right - it feeds through & you only sew once

Ange Moore said...

Oh I love the idea off this! I'm just starting to use bias binding and can't get it neat enough using the "double stitch" method and end up hand sewing the second side. This could revolutionise the way I sew!!

Thanks for the hint!

Jo Wholohan said...

loving this!!! im off to get me one :)) xx

Emma said...

ooooo.... how do you think it would handle corners?

Jodie @ The Haby Goddess said...

Emma, I think corners would need to be practised. I'm sure you could do it. Curves would be fine, squared a little more difficult.

Emma said...

LOL. I think perhaps we are overestimating my sewing abilities! ha!

Bellgirl said...

wow- I'd given up on my binder foot, but when I saw this tutorial i gave it a shot- perfection! Thank you gery much, Haby Goddess!

Jodie @ The Haby Goddess said...

That's fantastic! So glad to hear the tutorial worked for you.

romy said...

Wow! Never knew such a thing existed! I always do "double stitch" because I don't want to sew twice, but sometimes when I'm not very careful, I miss on the backside! So thank you very much! Romi

Sami said...

thanks for the tutorial.. I've just bought the foot and waiting for it to arrive. Would love to see an extension of the tutorial to cover corners and joining the ends as everyone covers how to get started but noone covers the difficult stuff

Jodie @ The Haby Goddess said...

Sami I agree that there isn't much on offer to explain corners with these attachments and I will admit that I round off everything as it will do curves. Ending & joining the bias would be done manually as normal. Make sure you leave long enough tails both sides to work with.