If you are anything like me, sewing curves and rounded projects might scare you. I have stayed away from curves like it has been a job since I started quilting… but recently I completed a quilt that I felt would be perfect for trying rounded corners.
I recently finished this free Valentines Heart Jelly Roll quilt and knew rounded corners would be so perfect for this romantic little quilt. Below I will walk you through exactly how I rounded the corners on this quilt.
And spoiler, it was not as hard as I thought it would be, plus no bias binding was needed!
Trimming Your Quilt Corners
There are a lot of ways you can go about trimming your quilt corners. There is even a curved corner ruler/template you can buy if you want to go that route.
Since this was my first time, I didn’t want to buy a notion I didn’t know if I would ever use more than once, so instead, I opted to use a circle template I had on hand from Missouri Star Quilt Company. Specifically, it is called the Missouri Star Circle Magic Large 10″ Circle Template.
I’ve also seen lots of tutorials that use any rounded object that gives you the curved corner. Had I not had this template I would have grabbed a mixing bowl from the kitchen!
Trimming the quilt is very simple, you use your ruler for the straight parts then the curved template on the corners.
If you aren’t confident using your rotary cutter for the curve you can just trace the curve with a pencil or your preferred marking tool. Then, you can use your scissors to cut the curve.
I felt confident enough to use my rotary cutter and was very pleased with how easy the curved corner was to cut.
Adding Binding to a Quilt with Curved Corners
Adding the binding was the part that was intimidating for me. I was terrified I was going to have to make bias binding and it would be a stretchy mess.
I decided to be brave and just use my normal 2.5″ wide binding cut width of fabric. I sewed the binding together as I normally would and then started binding as I normally would.
When I got close to the corner, about 6″ – 8″ from the start of the curve, I slowed way down to prepare for attaching the binding at the curve.
I probably should have used clips or pins, but I decided to just wing it and slowly curve the binding as I very SLOWLY stitched. I strongly recommend if you’ve never sewn curves that you use pins. This really helps the fabric not shift.
(This is just one of those do as I say not as I do moments LOL)
As I rounded the courner, I continued to take 2-3 stitches at a time and holding the binding against the curve.
The first corner was the one that I learned on, but by the fourth one I felt very confident and was not needing to sew so slow.
Finishing Binding on a Curved Corner Quilt
I originally planned to hand quilt the binding to the back of my quilt. However I didn’t have enough time to get it finished by the time I needed it done, so I decide to do it on the sewing machine.
I began in the middle of one of the sides (as I always do when machine binding) and then about 12″ away from the curve I stopped and added a ton of clips to hold the binding around the curved corner in place.
You can see that I used a lot of clips to prevent shifting. The first picture is what it looked like from the front of the quilt. The second shows how it looked on the back.
I very slowly continued to stitch the ditch on the corner and to my surprise it didn’t turn out half bad!
My corners don’t lay 100% flat, but if a quilt is being used, its going to be all crumpled and providing warmth. No one should care about the corners not being flat.
Are Rounded Corners on Quilts Easy?
Having never sewn curves or worked with a rounded edge in my sewing and quilting, I thought adding rounded corners was very easy.
Will I be doing it again anytime soon? Probably not. I think I prefer a good old fashioned 90 degree mitered corner on my binding and quilts.
It was very fun to try and I may do it on another quilt one day, but I do think a confident beginner could easily add rounded corners to their quilt if they wanted to!
Materials:
- Circle Magic Template from Missouri Star Quilt Company
- Base Quilt Pattern: Jordan Fabric Scrap Strips Diamond Trip
- Fabrics: Wilmington Red and Pink Jelly Roll Strips and Ombre Fairy Dust in Off White
- Binding: Leftover Red and Pink 2.5″ Strips
- Backing: Riley Blake Blossom 108″ Wide Fabric in White with black
- Pieced and Quilted on my Janome MC6650
