We recently unearthed a relic from days gone by when my second son was packing up things to move out of the house.  Andy is in the picture at the left, getting fitted for his wedding suit - I can only hope that the sandals aren't part of the outfit.

When he left for college, I had feared that his quilt wouldn't survive the experience, and in fact the quilt only went when he was a junior. When he moved back from college, I didn't really get to take a good look at the quilt - it disappeard into his room and only surfaced when he was packing to move to his new home.

To say that this quilt was well loved and well used makes this mother's heart glad, because that's why I made it.  From this angle it doesn't look all that bad (and it has been washed!).   However, when I took a look at the edge that has the most amount of wear - both on the binding (oh, the binding!) and on the actual quilt top...it's not pretty.Clearly, the binding on this piece has failed the quilt, which is likely because I used a straight grain binding on this piece.  I think it's because 12 years ago I didn't necessarily understand the importance of the grain line on a binding.  If you are making a wall hanging, or your piece won't get a lot of handling, a straight grain binding will most likely suffice.If the quilt is to be used on a bed (like Andy's was), then you need the durability of a bias binding.  The threads on a bias binding - which is cut on a 45 degree angle, rather than in a straight line - will wrap the around the edge of the quilt, and give better long lasting wear.Before I can rehab this quilt and send it back to its' rightful owner, I need to search out something in the blue family that will work. I have none of the original fabrics in the quilt to work with, so I have to figure something else out as far as fabric goes.This will be a two part blog post - the second part will include a demo by me of how to cut a bias-binding.  See you next week.It is a good thing he's cute...